I do not use the Google Toolbar, so every time I use
http://www.google.com there is a giant Google Toolbar advertisement
that seems to takes up more area on the page than the search box and
its links and buttons.

The blue outline of the toolbar ad and the slightly magnified search
box do draw (almost force) your eye to the ad, but the resulting
emphasis is so strong that it is almost hard to tell the page is
primarily a search engine. Or is it?

The prominence of this advertisement actually makes me less likely to
click on it, almost like responding a salesman who presses his product
just a little too strongly.