cyccommute is right, as usual. The manufacturer chose the cheapest possible method to incorporate shifting aids into the chainrings. Aesthetically ugly, but the bike shifts better than it would otherwise, and will continue to do so more or less indefinitely.

You have to admire the engineer who thought of it. Like Tom Ritchey popularizing the unicrown fork. Some people hate the look of it, but it's light and strong and is probably at least somewhat less prone to failure than conventional forks.