Depending on the actual content of the article, this connection could be used to benefit or condemn a particular point of view. Advertising in the real world is not 'sponsorship' of anything other than the general branding of the selected medium. Look at television. In its early days, it was de rigueur for programs to be directly and vocally 'sponsored' until the programmers realized what position that placed them in. This still happens in far more subtle ways.
Shows lose advertisers over such simple things as whom a character chooses to love.
If this issue doesn't make those little pale hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, it should. Mine are wind surfing. On-line, we see the connection between the content and the solicitation in a far stronger way than in the real world because we lack the physical realities of the printed page. There is a far tighter binding between the content of the work and its advertiser because we must get the two together. If we do not, there is no incentive to consume the solicitation.