This is your solution...
First do this......
To remove the ads entirely, make sure that AIM is not currently loaded. Browse to the root of your AIM install directory and open the file AIM.ODL in Notepad.
Scroll down until you see these lines:
on_group(5)
{
load_ocm advert required
}
on_group(11)
{
load_ocm advert required
}
Remove the lines inside the brackets, but leave the carriage returns. If you did this correctly, these lines should now look like this:
on_group(5)
{
}
on_group(11)
{
}
Save the file changes and close Notepad. If this was done right, the next time you open AIM and log on, there should be two blank spots at the top and bottom of your main AIM buddy list window. =)"
UPDATE: "Editing AIM.ODL works only if you manually load AIM. If AIM loads from SysTray, the ads still show up. 🙁
Besides using the fix above, I edited out all ADVERT.OCM contents.
No ads appear anymore when loading AIM either from SysTray or manually.
The second step, learn to use Resource Hacker, which is in the download section....you can replace pics and many other things using it. Also ExeScope will work to replace the ads, the exact steps I no longer have, but have been able to do once in the past, as for removing them, the above steps leaves a blank space, no more annoying ads.