Not to draw undo attention to the ads.

I have seen this done well and badly. I think if you can make it look as it is part of the overall page design and relative to the page and the ads it had a nice look.

As far as the TOS is concerned. The words "undo attention" create a large grey area which means they can rule for or against it at anytime.

Myself, I put the large rectangle block in the middle of the page above the fold and build the page around it, no need of any gimicks.

Recently, I went black with increasing colors and brighting values from mid to white in the hot spectum. Finally the ad text is white, head yellow and url bright orannge. Now the adblock is the brightest thing and the center of the page and cannot be ignored.

I think Jensense posted word from Google that something, such as a border, was required such that it would not appear to a visitor that the images were part of the ads. If that is the rule, it is routinely observed in the breach.

If in doubt, ask AdSense support to approve your presentation.

I don't use the technique myself, but have see it on various sites. I don't remember seeing a border on most implementations, so I guess they are all violating the tos. How unusual. It can work well to confuse people into clicking, but when Google serves three ads and you have 4 graphics it looks plain ugly.

I wrote to adsense support this very question a while back and they said to use a border on the ad's. I am using a very light blue color so it doesn't scream "ad"

i got it approved by adsense support, but i did already have the border around the pics... the pics i used were also relevant to the page content.

create a test url and send it in to adsense support for some feedback.

Did they say it has to be a very visible border or can we make it faint?

What about a horizontal line before and after your AdSense ads, this separates the pictures from the ads without having to ad a border around the ads.

Did they say if the border can be around the pictures or does it need to be around the ads?

I'll ask them and see, just wanted to know your experiences.

That is a good question -
border around the ad unit - or the image itself?

I'd email adsense support. We can say what we might think is ok, but they are the ones that can ultimately ban your account. Don't risk it.

i have an image then border then ads...

<image> ¦ <google ads>

this is on a regular banner