Online journalists are being urged to resist a push by advertisers to sell editorial space on the basis that it does not make good business sense. Pitching advertisements as articles is simply bad business, because it diminishes the quality of your brand. Your brand, name and reputation is your only link to your market.
Readers recognise it, and they know what level of quality of expect from it.
Nearly all text-based online journals are elite publications. These people are not going to appreciate you wasting their time with advertisements disguised as articles. Mr Stroehlein called advertorials the online editorial equivalent of 'spam', or junk mail, which diminished the value of genuine articles on the site. As soon as readership numbers fall, so do the number of advertisers willing to buy space on the site. The traditional 468 by 60 pixel banner advert is becoming a thing of the past.