MTV first established itself as the edgy-voice of the new generation in the 1980s with an innovative music video platform. For years they reigned supreme as the hub for youth culture until the demise of television in the early 2000s. Somewhere amidst the rise of reality TV and video-streaming, the voice of MTV became obsolete.
Recently, the Viacom owned network has been attempting to shift their branding approach back to innovation and creativity. In preparation for this year’s Video Music Awards, they commissioned artists from all over the world to create gif-style art (GIF art) that would be aired on the network to promote the award show.
While the event included wardrobe malfunctions, cat-fights, and more than a few weed references – what it did not include was the artwork created by the design studio, Le Cube. This Buenos Aires and São Paulo based creative agency has created playful art campaigns for brands like Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Nescafé, and even Greenpeace. MTV reached out to the studio to create gifs that poked fun at the award show’s nominees. However, when the network received the original (hilarious) works, they felt the subject matter was too offensive to air and feared offending the delicate egos of their super stars.
Entitled “Pop Icons- Kill the Boring” the seven gifs depict all of today’s major celebs from Nicki Minaj to Madonna. If humor was the goal, the studio completely nailed it. The works are not only beautiful, but also fearlessly hilarious. Kanye is caught gazing lovingly into the eyes of Kanye while Justin Bieber blow dries his face to death. A perplexed Jay Z swipes left over an awkward rendition of Beyonce’s face (based on a photo she fought tirelessly to have removed from the internet last year).
Le Cube recently posted the collection of works on their website and Behance with the following disclaimer, “Attention Lawyers – this is just some fun gifs that MTV decided no to put on air, but they were too cool not to be in our portfolio. So, If you want to sue something, sue boredom.”
In a world where voicing any criticism of these super stars will get you thousands of death threats on social media, it would have been a powerful statement for the network to make about freedom of speech (and not taking anything too seriously). Sadly, it seems they are no longer interested in truly being edgy and fear biting the hand that feeds them.
Le Cube’s portfolio is full of really fun animation and print projects, so click here to see more, or follow them on social media.
All images courtesy of Le Cube.
Like this article? Check out the satirical masterpieces of Chloe Wise or other humorous works of art.
