After keeping staleness away for 104 years — which is remarkable as the average legume lasts roughly two years before losing its moisture — Planters’ top hat and monocle-clad mascot Mr. Peanut has died.
In a half-minute pre-Superbowl commercial released on Jan. 22, singing Cutting Crews’ “[I Just] Died in Your Arms Tonight,” Mr. Peanut, Matt Walsh and Wesley Snipes encounter a crossing armadillo and careen off a winding road in the NUTmobile.
With the trio ejected from the NUTmobile, they’re left to hold onto a slowly snapping branch under their combined weight. Walsh and Snipes try to decide which one of them should let go, but Mr. Peanut ignores their pleas, tips his hat and lets go. He lands atop the NUTmobile and erupts in an explosion. Mr. Peanut is dead.
Coinciding with the release of the advertisement, Mr. Peanut’s Twitter and YouTube accounts had been renamed as The Estate of Mr. Peanut. On Twitter, his death was formally announced to the world and #RIPeanut trended worldwide.
Innumerable tributes poured in on Twitter from many other iconic pop culture food brands and icons.
Budweiser was “Pouring one out for you, Mr. Peanut.” Oscar Mayer and their Wienermobile both individually offered their tributes — most importantly a “special 21-bun salute to our dear friend.” SKIPPY Peanut Butter offered “A toast to you, Mr. Peanut.” Kool-Aid said “Oh, yeah…” with a crying-face emoji. Nesquik posting a picture of a teary Nesquik Bunny said: “RIP to a real one.” TUMS said, “Our hearts are feeling the burn today from the loss of our favorite nut man mascot.”
Needless to say, the charismatic and dapperly dressed legume will be missed.
Mr. Peanut’s funeral is scheduled to air on Feb. 2 during the third quarter of this year’s Super Bowl game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
This isn’t the first time that a brand has killed off a mascot for the sake of a Super Bowl commercial. Last year, Budweiser and HBO’s Game of Thrones collaborated for a commercial in which Bud Light Knight dies. He was then magically revived for a commercial in April 2019.
It’s unclear why Planters has decided to send their mascot to his death — especially after 104 years — but there are plenty of theories. The most popular so far is that the brand is using this buzz-worthy death to not only bring more attention to the brand but also allows for a rebranding.
Why a rebranding? With numerous death memes on behalf of those who have allergies to the particular legume, or nuts in general, one could wonder if Planters really will rebrand into something more inclusive. However, that will be difficult for a brand that mainly offers nuts.
VaynerMedia’s creative director — who created the idea and carried it out — told CNBC “We started talking about how the internet reacts when someone dies — specifically, we were thinking about fictional characters, [like] Iron Man did.”
It’s played-off well so far with an indisputable bump in social media attention, but we’ll have to see if Mr. Peanut is resurrected at some point following his planned Super Bowl funeral. Or, some of the theories might prove correct and Planters does, in fact, rebrand itself with a new mascot.
