Lots of people do it, integrate their ads next to images and it seems to help their CTR. I <think> it's ok as long as the image isn't an arrow pointing to it or asking for clicks, but I'm not sure really. The Adsense TOS states that you cannot do anything to draw attention to the ads, whether that means an image or not I dunno. Better ask them.
The only way you can really be sure is to email google and request a site TOS review. From what I understand you must have a visible border between the ads and an image.
I asked AdSense about this specifically when it became popular, and the answer is that images are ok unless they appear to be part of the advertisement, then they ask that there be a line/border placed between the images and the ads. If you want all the details with the entire AdSense response, it is here. But basic rule of thumb is whether the images appear to be *part* of the ad or not.
Well, mine is an adlink and not an ad block, but more importantly the images do not look as if they are part of the adlink.
How about you put picture that is related to Ads? Like a picture of cell phone next to a cell phone Ads?
Yes, the same is true for the link units, meant to say that in my first post, lol. Would be hard to do it with the square style ad links, but with the horizontal ad links, it would be the same thing, if those images appear to be part of the keyword(s) within the ad link units.