How can I get rid of Skype ads on a Mac?

I'm running OSX 10.6.8 and have Skype version 6.15. When I open Skype Home a very large square ad pops up with annoying "meet singles in your area" and so on. I've searched for tips and tricks on google to get rid of this advertising but it seems every fix is for windows. There are some recommendations to install an older version of Skype but someone else found out that Skype won't allow you to use older versions and forces you to update as soon as you launch it. I'm sure there is a crafty way to get rid of the advertising. Nothing in the Skype preferences is helpful (I tried preferences-privacy- and unchecked "allow Microsoft to use your Skype profile information to show you more relevant ads in this application") This was unsuccessful even after logging out-quitting- and restarting. I also went to "notifications" in the Skype preferences and tried to uncheck "display visual notifications" and that was also unsuccessful. Does anyone have a possible fix for this annoying advertising?