I love Mt. Rushmore. We visited a while back on vacation, took in the sites, had an amazing lunch and learned a lot. We ended the day by listening to a very inspiring presentation as a part of the final evening lighting ceremony. Definitely worth taking in if you visit. But as we began to make our way out of the park, we chose to briefly visit the gift shop. There was something really unnerving about seeing all of the gifts\products with Made in China stamped on them. Really? Mini Mt. Rushmore’s made in China? Ceramic bald eagles emblazoned with American flags made in China? Is it me, or Does Mt. Rushmore have a serious branding problem? I now think of Mt. Rushmore and can’t help think about container ships filled with cheap chotchkies steaming toward the gift shop. Maybe it doesn’t make any difference, but for me it’s an image in my head that gets in the way and pollutes the great experience we had with the park as a whole. And from an integrated marketing perspective, does it not make sense to ensure that every single item for sale in that gift shop is Made in the USA…even if it means limiting the palette of offerings or kicking up the price 20%?