Peanut Publicity

On January 22, 2020, the world lost the most famous peanut on earth in a tragic automobile accident. If you have no idea what I am talking about, please refer to the video below. Warning: This commercial may cause emotional distress.

As I was saying: tragic. Planters killed off its own mascot. “Why?” You may ask. The answer is quite simple: publicity. Planters is using the good old press agentry/publicity model introduced to the world by P.T. Barnum. The gist of the model is that you create a story simply to get people talking. Barnum was infamous for this kind of publicity, and now Planters has joined his ranks. Planters did not have to kill Mr. Peanut, they chose to. It may seem harsh, but it worked. Everyone was talking about Mr. Peanut’s untimely death.

Takeaway #1: Figure out creative, fun ways to get people talking about your company.

Other companies began riding the wave of publicity to hopefully gain some attention as well (a little trick known as newsjacking). The hashtag #RIPeanut trended on twitter.

It is worth noting that Kool-Aid is owned by the same parent company as Planters. Kool-Aid newsjacked off Planters, but both companies are really working for the same boss. Boom. Double publicity for The Kraft Heinz Company. Anyways, it’s all pretty neat, huh? I don’t know about you, but I had never given a second thought to Planters, and then suddenly the company was all people were talking about!

Takeaway #2: Newsjack off other companies’ publicity when possible and appropriate.

Oh, but Planters wasn’t finished yet. They needed a new mascot, as their previous one was *ahem* dead. I theorized that this publicity stunt was a way to get Mr. Peanut out of the picture and bring in a completely new mascot, while my dad theorized that Mr. Peanut was going to have an epic comeback.

The sunglasses emoji is my dad’s favorite, he can make it apply to any message. Anyways, my dad was right. Well, he was right that Mr. Peanut came back, but I wouldn’t say it was an epic comeback. Here is the commercial Planters aired during the Super Bowl:

There you have it, folks. Mr. Peanut is back… as Baby Nut.

It is unclear if Baby Nut will ever grow up to be Mr. Peanut again, or if this is the new Planters mascot forever. One thing is clear, Planters perfectly executed the press agentry/publicity model. The creation of this absurd peanut narrative did not cause anyone harm, it actually brought laughter and lightness to the internet for a bit. Despite the fact that some people on the internet are expressing discontent with Baby Nut, Planters is still getting press.

Takeaway #3: Be wary of the repercussions that may come from your press agentry. Living by the motto “any press is good press” can be dangerous.

In the end, Planters benefits from all the publicity and so does any company that jumped on the newsjacking train. Some may say the press agentry/publicity model is nuts, but it worked well for Planters.