shilling

Somehow the term became a pejorative for "sell-out." Now moms who blog stand accused at every turn of taking freebies, shilling products while secretly on the company payroll and of profiting from a huge payola system of their own devise.

The guy with the annoying voice who led a crusade against evolution has lost his job with the Grey Lady after taking a job advertising for a financial services company.Apparently, Ben Stein's decision to become a pitchman for freescore.com, a dubious financial services firm, finally put his employer over the edge.