The come back

Recently, even locally, there seems to be advertising wars that don't amount to a hill of beans in the consumers minds. The first hospital says, "We're bigger" to which the other hospital replys, "Not bigger, just better" and on and on. Do people really get it, or are the advertisers so consumed in their battle they miss the point?
One of the best examples of this are the ads below. And I must admit the last one mads me laugh for hours, wishing I'd have thought of that!