WTF Is Going On With Baby Nut (& Why The Internet Hates Him)
Mr. Peanut, the Planters snack company mascot, died and was reborn as Baby nut during the Super Bowl — who is now a 21-year old named Peanut, Jr.
The Planters nut company has a new mascot: a grown-up version of Baby Nut — and the internet hates it. The snack company made public a press release on August 11, 2020, promoting the new version of their classic nut-based mascot. The announcement was made along with the start of a "birthday" sweepstakes and the hashtag "#MakeMyBirthdayNuts." If the purpose of the promotion is to bring positive attention to Planters, it appears to be failing — although it is certainly brining the company lots of online attention.
Planters is an iconic American snack brand that was first founded at the turn of the 20th century. For most of its history, the company had the mascot Mr. Peanut: a literal peanut with a face and limbs, wearing a monocle and top hat. At 104 years of age, Mr. Peanut was shockingly killed during a Super Bowl commercial in 2020. Then, a subsequent Planters advertisement played later in the game introduced his replacement: a freshly-grown "baby nut."
Despite being seen by some as a blatant Baby Yoda rip-off, Baby Nut went viral, prompting many online discussions. The undeniably bizarre advertising campaign raises so many questions: what is the nature of Mr. Peanut's existence? Why is he human-sized? How did he and Wesley Snipes become friends? The answers lie in the deliberate nonsensical nature of the marketing campaign.
Six months after the "birth" of Baby Nut, the character was replaced with a more millennial-friendly version. Gone is the top hat Baby Nut was born with; instead, Peanut Jr. dons an unassuming baseball cap. This version of the character has freckles — a trait the official Twitter points to in its bio. The Planters' official account has published a number of tweets since August 12, all of which are branding the character as an edgier version of the mascot: he's less reserved, prim, and proper than his aristocratic predecessor, as seen by his interest in drinking and the subtly rebellious attitude of the account, which uses its nonsensical premise to provoke a response. Peanut Jr. isn't offering an excuse for his transformation into a 21 year old in just 7 months — he just wants to drink a beer at the pub.
Whether or not the Baby Nut/Peanut Jr. saga will pay off for Planters in the long run remains to be seen. The marketing strategy has brought attention to the company, but has that notoriety resulted in increased sales? Baby Nut official merchandise is available for purchase online; however, the general tone of the response to the character is not the sort of glowing endorsement that one would assume would result in high merchandise sales. Now that the character has been replaced by the even less likeable Peanut Jr., will official Planters merchandise sell? Surely, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the American economy in ways that have yet to be determined, so it is difficult to assess market trends independently of the greater global crisis. It will be interesting to see if Peanut Jr. sticks around for the holiday shopping season — perhaps the snack company is playing the long-game with this marketing stunt, and is betting on a surge of appreciative sales when they re-introduce the "classic" Mr. Peanut for 2021.