Tourism slogans are reliably corny, but last week New York state took the grand prize for "Huh?" with a newly anointed slogan for its fair city to the north that 's best known for its proximity to Niagara Falls and everyone's favorite 25-cent bar snack.

It came up with this: "Buffalo. For Real." (And sadly, yes, that 's for real).

As the city's paper wrote in the wake of the announcement, the new slogan prompted backlash from the local community and critics who mocked it on Twitter with alternative lines like "Buffalo: The 'MySpace' of Cities."

'"To me, it doesn't mean anything. I don't know what is 'real.' Is there 'unreal Buffalo'?"' Arun K. Jain, chairman of the marketing department at the University at Buffalo, told the Buffalo News. The move comes as a weakened dollar, and rising gas and airline prices, are said to be helping the U.S. tourism industry.

To be fair, state and city tourism slogans over the years haven't exactly been the most convincing marketing devices. Here, we've compiled what, in Ad Age 's view, account for some of the most absurd. Roll over the Google Map to match the cities to their slogans.