The "no, really, this is a personal endorsement, I use the product all the time" podcast ads really put me off too, but I'm not sure there's a better alternative. One of the great things about podcasts, for me, is the immersion. I think the "personal" ads are there more to sustain immersion rather than to fool the audience about the nature of the ad.
That was how I thought, who could really believe these ads are actually personal endorsements, until I read a thread about people being angry about a podcast with ads from 99 designs.
Some people really haven't developed the means to distingish host from ad. I can't really blame them, take the casper ads and the ads for one of those stupidly expensive boxed dinner companies. How many podcasts actually say 'hey we got this stuff we're talking up for free'
Meh, just pisses me off. I don't want podcast umbrellas to die due to what i find to be naive and shady ad practices.
