Mr Peanuts dies in order to become -once again- an icon of its time. The process of creating, maintaining, removing, the symbol, is a psychological process that remains a staple within our expectation of an entartaining narrative.
In a rather quick faith of a commercial lasting 30 seconds which will be featured in the 2020 NFL Superbowl teaser, the iconic mascott perishes abruptly to save Wesly Snipes and Matt Walsh hanging from a tree branch after an accident. The 104 year-old peanut figure is washed away to fulfill an induced mourning process paired to the death of Iron Man.
Mike Pierantozzi is the creative head for Planters through Vayner Media stating:
“We started talking about how the internet treats when someone dies — specifically, we were thinking about fictional characters, [like when] Iron Man died,” Pierantozzi said, referring to the death of the Marvel character in last year’s “Avengers: Endgame.”
“When Iron Man died, we saw an incredible reaction on Twitter and on social media. It’s such a strange phenomenon,” Pierantozzi said.
There is a whole chasm of space between a comic book figure and a promotional mascott. Despite Mr Peanut being 104, it received the dismissal of any marketing decision from a company in need of attention. Perhaps killing something is worth the trouble of having it born once more.