An ad that has been running in the NYT Magazine for several weeks:
(#1)
Despite having a caption in French, the ad is clearly American: the adjectival idiom big-ass ‘really big’ in the company name Big Ass Solutions is distinctly American. As for the caption Ceci n’est pas un ventilateur ‘This is not a fan’, that’s an allusion to René Magritte’s The Betrayal of Images (Ceci n’est pas une pipe), which is at the very least “about” the image not being the thing depicted. This is not (just) a fan, this is not your father’s fan, this is a super-fan, big-ass and (in several senses) cool.
On the company, from its website:
Founded in 1999, Big Ass Solutions is the preeminent designer, engineer and manufacturer of industrial and commercial fans and lights worldwide.
The fans are BIG, 8 to 14 feet in diameter, incorporating what ads refer to as “aerodynamic principles” (making them super-fans). They are suited for large commencial and residential spaces, as here (their Isis model):
(#2)
As for the Betrayal of Images, on this blog:
from 7/19/12 “Magritte”: the original and three parodies of Ceci n’est pas une pipe
from 3/11/15 “Magritte goes on”: Zippy riff on Ceci n’est pas une pipe
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