Fits right in to gaitlinburg's general over the top tourist trap theme....
Plenty of hotels, restaurants and other places do their little 'community corner' or tie in to the locale themes as a part of their current business strategy and often simply swipe the street cred or even convince the town to participate for free for gracing them with their project. Even chains realize people don't like chains and look to "localize" their projects.
Kinda hard calling a donation based organization 'sell outs' for accepting donations or working with donors for mutual benefit.
I can understand some don't like the ATC 'promoting' the trail... but it does need promotion. There is about to be a large generational turnover in volunteers that needs replacement if the trail will continue as it is into the future.
This looks like it was sincerely done and actually gives something back to the trail immediately and in the future. They could have gone with a generic trail theme or gently skirted around the ATC and not paid a penny. Coulda cheesed it up easily too and most tourists wouldn't notice the difference.
From beers to t-shirts and even all the hostels or others who profit from hikers lots of folks 'rip off the AT' with products or services as it is a public entity... the ATC actually getting some money back, merchandise and a some precious square footage set aside in the hotel devoted to the trail seems like a win to me.
If not to you... I'd suggest the simple solution I employ... stay the hell out of Gaitlinburg