>there's no sense of "people won't like this, they will associate our products with obtrusive ads".

One, I don't think people mind it too much. By too much, I mean two things: actually stating that they don't give a damn (even though they are just as susceptible), or grumbling about ads, but still doing nothing against them.

Two, price is everything. People put up with ads ever for a pittance. They listen to an ad every 15 minutes for hours a day, just to not pay $5 for the ad-free tier. That is how low this barrier is.

So ads not not much a problem PR-wise. You'd think, you'd hope, but it isn't.