In newspapers and magazines, sponsored content is very clearly labeled (which arguably this is) and made to look _different_. For example, most magazines require advertorial to be in a different typeface and font size, so that readers have a sense that it's somehow "different." The difficulty here is that, unlike a magazine in which you're flipping pages, you probably only saw _this_ page and thus have no sense about whether it "looks different."
There is a Streisand effect-like phenomenon when notorious publicity-seekers become famous due to widespread criticism. The attention, negative or not, is exactly what they want. The biggest example is probably the Westboro Baptist Church.
