In 2004, the London ad agency Mother created "Abba to Zappa", a campaign for the Observer Music Magazine that featured a glorious, flashcard-style collection of pop star portraits.
The images were made by the pixel-happy artist and illustrator Craig Robinson, and they slot right in alongside such instantly recognizable pop systems as South Park and Lego Minifigs. A is for Abba. B is for The Beatles. C is for, uh... Christina Aguilera?
The posters, A-to-Z, filled the Tube stations; they ran in the cinemas and on TV. There was a guess-the-pop-star quiz on the Observer's site.
And then it was gone, and with it, any hope that the children of tomorrow can ever learn their ABC123's, their GN'R's, their U2's, and their YMCA's.
I can't imagine a Mother would ever do such a thing knowingly. I like to think that a goodhearted Mother would, after realizing her mistake, sprinkle the Internet with nice vector graphic files so that music-loving parents of today AND tomorrow can teach their children that K is for Kraftwerk and Kiss. Please, Mother, think of the children.
Abba to Zappa campaign image found on weblinks.ru by dt reader jake
Abba to Zappa campaign info and installation shots by Craig Robinson [flipflopflyin.com]
60 sec. A-to-Z animation created by Nexus [ephinx.com]
Related: Robinson's site, Flip Flop Flyin', is overloaded with pixellated cuteness, much of it kid-friendly [flipflopflyin.com]
Like this "Cheap ABC" set of images, for example
Previously and Not Related: Mark Jones' Politically Incorrect Alphabet
