Fortune:

In recent years, a debate has raged on among publishing and advertising industry insiders over “sponsored content”—more recently called “native advertising” and once known as “advertorial”—the sort of advertising that looks very much like editorial content but is, in fact, directly paid for by an advertiser.

Industry peers watched and discussed: Is it deceptive? Is it ethical? Does it even work?

It can be deceptive – Macworld had a nasty habit of putting the “sponsored content” info at the bottom of the post instead of front and centre – as to “does it work”? Certainly not on me. If I see an article marked as “sponsored”, I don’t even bother reading it regardless of my interest in the subject matter.