An amusing NYT yarn about a small (but in its own way, sophisticated) ad in a Catskills newspaper that put some noses out of joint.

An excerpt:

... The ad, announcing the availability of some long-boarded-up old storefronts on withered-up Main Street, was not the kind that usually shows up in the local paper, soberly promoting vinyl siding and auto-body repair. In tiny type, this one sounded like a little manifesto, written by a postmodern comic. It defiantly described Kerhonkson as a "real town - not like some of the other quaint towns around these parts." Anyone wanting to open a restaurant in one of the storefronts should leave the tofu behind, it warned. "And if you want to open a coffee shop," it continued, "don't make us learn new words for small, medium and large is all we're saying."

"Jews, Blacks, Italians (and all others) Welcome," it ended, and then, as if it had not been provocative enough, added, "No Artists or Canadians."

After the ad ran in late October , the angry calls immediately began coming into the offices of The Blue Stone Press. The company that placed the ad called itself Kerhonkson General, but it was really placed by Harris Silver, the president of a young New York City advertising agency called Think Tank 3, which has created sleek campaigns for products like Georgi Vodka and several environmentally friendly causes.

Mr. Silver, 39, who has owned a weekend house in Kerhonkson for years, got together with some friends recently and bought the three empty stores and some vacant apartments, with dreams of helping to revive the faded town, which has a population of about 1,700 and is probably best known as the onetime home of Clayton Bates, a k a Peg Leg Bates, the one-legged tap dancer.

The problem for the rejuvenators was getting attention for their cause. The answer, they concluded, was with the sharp-edged tools of marketing today: sarcasm and biting humor, with a hint of a point, but only enough to keep people guessing at the advertiser's real motives.