Google Places First Animated Ad on Homepage

When Marisa Mayer was at Google, one of the things she did was oversee the development of the brand's clean homepage design and the establishment of that design as a hallmark of the brand.

Now that Mayer has left Google for Yahoo, it seems some things are changing. Today, an animated ad for Google's own Nexus 7 tablet can be seen on the homepage. It's not the first time advertising has appeared on the page (a small text ad for the Nexus smartphone ran in 2010) but it's the first time it's been so prominent.

The ads Google has placed on its homepage have been house ads promoting Google's own products. Whether or not the search giant decides to turn the homepage into a revenue generating ad position remains to be seen.

The ad itself is minimalistic just like the homepage. Some will say the move is yet another chink in Google's promise to "Do No Evil." Others will realize Google is a for-profit business with revenue to generate. Others still (as in the 99 percent of us that don't work in the world of advertising) won't even notice or care.

What are your thoughts?