A kind of visual technique, usually played for laughs. It features an inanimate object, such as a sign or billboard, and something in or of the real world. While the sign is making one very clear statement, the real thing will be portraying a reality that it completely different in nature. The sign, as a result, will appear to be either surreal or completely ineffective considering its general surroundings.

Examples:

• Perhaps the most famous examples of this are the Depression era photographs by Dorothea Lange, which contrasted extremely cheerful billboard advertisements with happy American families with the desolate ghost town that most of America had become. The worst of it is that these advertisements stayed up during most of the Depression- largely because no one could afford to take them down and put up new ones.
• One of the Lethal Weapon movies features a cool rebellious lead character standing in front of a non-smoking sign and smoking. You know, 'cause he's cool.