Screened Bitmaps with Gradients

I seem to be drawn to work with bitmaps with a slight gradient or color variation in the background. I'm feeling that it may be going back to the 80's or early 90's but people/clients seem to like it. Below is an web ad/banner I am doing for my company (an adoption agency). Should I continue using this technique (I don't mean all the time) or is it cliché?







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What do you think?