"Sponsorship is different from ads" therefore Paid users will see it
In September 2006, brad was saying : sponsored "whatever" are ads. don't worry, we (at least most of us?) realize sponsorships are the same as ads. and we remember which account levels see ads and which don't. Paid users won't see sponsored stuff -- ignore the previous post. paid users won't ever see ads. that's why you paid, and we're not in the business of pissing off paid users.

In July 2007, arie is saying: "We believe that sponsorship is different from ads." "We haven't changed our policy on paid users viewing ads. We believe that the FAQ stating that paid users won't see ads is accurate; they aren't. Paid users may see sponsored mood themes, journal themes or other content if they're viewing the journal of a user who has chosen to use one of the sponsored features."

This is part of the reply I got when I asked why Paid users were seing ads.

ETA: This statement was given as an answer to an e-mail I had written to feedback@livejournal.com. All Feedback requests are private. If a screencap is needed, tell me so and I'll make one.

When asked if there had been a change of policy since, obviously, something that used to be considered as advertising now wasn't, LiveJournal closed my request and made it impossible for me to reopen it.

When elfwreck and I both suggested that sponsored content could be made optionally viewable for Paid and Permanent users - the default option being 'visible', LiveJournal ignored our suggestion.

In conclusion, it only took LJ 10 months to change their minds about making Paid and Permanent users see ads. Except they're very clever about it because stuff where you can see the word Pepsi and the Pepsi logo are not ads, you see. So these or these? Not ads, no siree. So Paid and Permanent users still do not see ads. Fascinating logic, right? Moreover, neither the Pepsi mood theme nor the Pepsi styles have been announced in lj_releases or news.

ETA: As ide_cyan noticed, the Pepsi logo which is at the top of the Pepsi sponsored style links to
http://sixapart.adbureau.net/adclick/. Same thing for the text which is in the sidebar. Leave it to LJ to explain why a style which contains links to 6A's ad server is not an ad. A pretty ad maybe but still an ad.