Tourism And Marketing

Continuing with the multi-point posts I had these 2 separate subjects in mind. Only when I put them together in the title did I notice they are actually related. My post however is agnostic of that and you'll hardly notice any relation, it's more of something for you to think about.

-Tourism
At the start of the last century (the 1900s) Leavenworth, WA was a city that depended on commerce for its economy. The railroad tracks used to go through it and a railroad track going through a city back then meant a healthy commercial economy. But then the railroads were rerouted, the city's economy fell apart gradually and for some 30 years the city was on the brink of extinction.
In the late 1960s they decided to try and do something about it.
Ideas were thrown around and an idea to turn the city into a mock bavarian (Bavaria is a state in Germany) village was chosen to turn the city into a touristic destination and help revitalize economy.
And it worked. Even though the city had nothing particularly Bavarian about it, they started remodelling their hamlet to look Bavarian. People started festivals, signs in German were erected, and with all the remodelling work the city looks very refreshing.
Today the city whose area is 3.2 Km² and population around 2000 people gets more than a million tourists annually.
It would be a healthy exercise to think about the story of this city and compare it to how we're "investing" our priceless monuments and potentially touristic areas.

Actually, I take that back, this is not a healthy exercise at all.

-Marketing
I've noticed a few things about ads and marketing that I find oxymoronic. Let me illustrate.
Quite a few ads or statements on product packaging proudly boast "Better taste or less fat or more cleaning power than the leading (beverage, or chocolate, or detergent) brand(s)"
Well, if I, the advertiser, willingly admit that some other brand is the leading brand what am I basically declaring my brand to be... the following brand perhaps?

The other thing is just as popular, I would be watching TV or listening to the radio when the announcer declares '60 minutes of music brought to you "commercial free" by Mercedes Benz' or 'The Closer, series premiere brought to you "commercial free" by Audi'
What exactly is this statement if not a commercial?

Anyway, I'm done talking. I'll leave you with a few photos of my visit to Leavenworth that triggered parts of this post.