The Video Music Awards Somehow Manage To Embrace Subtlety

This ad for Sunday night’s Video Music Awards spotlights Janet Jackson’s show-opening tribute to her late brother Michael, and it does so in a lovely, subtle way that almost makes one forget about those awful West Side Story-themed promos, which continue to baffle me weeks after they were first unleashed on an unsuspecting public. I can’t help but wonder if this spot will help the VMAs get more buzz than they’ve seemingly had over the past few weeks? MTV’s synergistic efforts have certainly been divided between Sunday’s show and yesterday’s release of The Beatles: Rock Band, and the pre-show chatter about the Video Music Awards has seemed very muted, particularly compared to that surrounding Internatonal Beatles Day. Maybe people have just really started taking the “what’s the point of honoring videos if they’re only played in the early-morning hours” maxim—which has been lobbed at pretty much every mention of the VMAs I’ve seen online—to heart? MJ VMA Tribute Promo [MTV via ONTD] [Thanks to Popjustice for the YouTube link]