But you are correct...why did they not ask first?
Cause it would be stupid.
Asking "do you want to have a banner in the program"... is pointless, you'd all answer "no" without thinking (i.e. without giving very useful opinion), so why waste the time?
The real question is - does it help a significant number of users (especially those who need help - and maybe are unfamiliar with the forum, for example) - enough to justify the ad? Does this support provide useful / professional help to the users? It will certainly be tested by us as well - but it can't be done unless it's running for real, because that would hardly be a real-life test if they knew it's only us who could be calling.
Is it helpful to have a toll-free number to call for support? There wasn't any before, and there probably won't be any if this is stopped.
Is it helpful to have a phone support in different timezone (or rather 24/7) than just the usual working hours in Europe?
The particular look of the info page is certainly a question as well.
Etc. etc.
I'm not saying I like it particularly either, but there are things to be considered... I find the "Oh God, there's an AD there... it's evil!" approach a bit shalow. (On the other hand, if it reflects the opinion of most/many, it certainly should be considered, I'm not suggesting to ignore it.)
[Just my personal opinion]