pink elephant in the room

A "pink elephant in the room" is a phrase used to say that there is something very obvious, one cant miss it, yet no one wants to be the person to point it out or talk about it. Its assumed that everyone has noticed it. It may be that pointing it out is politically not correct, impolite, or offensive. This phrase was first introduced by Sam Senev who brought an actual pink elephant to a speech as a social experiment. After the speech the audience was polled about their opinion. He often uses the same pink elephant in meetings and speeches.