shadow ad
n.— «It would be difficult to find a clearer example of the mingling of real news and advertising than the “watermark” ads The Times started offering in late September. Advertising images are printed faintly underneath a full page of stock-price quotations, with a conventional ad stripped across the bottom. There is little distinction left between news and advertising in the ads, which many editors refer to as “shadow” ads.» —“Cracks in the Wall Between Advertising and News” by Byron Calame New York Times Nov. 6, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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