Advertisement is a very broad term. There are some specifics here that scope the usage in a way that I can't find issue with: * The photos will only be used fo

Advertisement is a very broad term. There are some specifics here that scope the usage in a way that I can't find issue with: * The photos will only be used for "shared endorsements", not your typical AdWords advertisement * These endorsements will only be visible to "the people who you originally shared that activity with though" (quoting the article here) There is an exception to that second point, but it only applies to Google Play and Google+Local, both of which I would expect people already anticipate are more "public" than something like a generic +1. IMO, the only reason this is getting a lot of attention is because it's a change that can be easily spun in to something scary, which in turn generates page views.