Unsuccessful Sidebar Ads

My attempt to breath life into these ads was unsuccessful. I think they might be hurting the site UI as a whole by adding excess cluttery noise. It isn't a priority to redesign them but I want to just go with white/border and let them blend into the background now. Blech. Sharing the results, let me know what you think. Do you agree with me, disagree? Would like some respectfully worded feedback.