It seems that when the height is set to 0px, the element doesn't visually shrink...
<div id="bg">
<div id="animate"><span>WINNER ALERT! Click here to get a million dollars!!!</span></div>
</div>
#bg {
background-color:#898989;
font-family: Helvetica;
padding:20px;
}
span {
border:solid black 1px;
height:0px;
}
#animate {
height: 0px;
}