As paid “stories” about cancer and financial ruin flourish on the web, are better labels the answer?

Big publishers like Time and USA Today are posting “stories” on their web sites that are really ads. Some of these native ad “stories” can offer quality reading with a subtle marketing message, while others amount to alarmist drivel with headlines like “10 sure signs you have cancer” or “Expert says financial collapse is upon us” -- the latter ads, especially, are leading some to fret that native ads are deceitful and a “Faustian pact.“ Taboola, a company responsible for distributing those ads, is promising more transparency by better labeling the paid-for stories.