While most Americans were picking sides between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers last Sunday, others found themselves getting involved in a different battle.
During Super Bowl LIV on Sunday Feb. 3, one of the more noted commercials to appear was a part two to a previous Planter’s commercial that premiered on Jan. 31, which killed off their iconic mascot, Mr. Peanut.
In this part two Super Bowl commercial, various people and mascots such as Mr. Clean and the Kool-Aid Man gathered for the funeral of the 106 year-old Mr. Peanut, who nobly died saving his friends in a freak accident.
As they gathered to say their final goodbyes, a sudden heavenly ray of sunlight caused what was left of the original Mr. Peanut to be reincarnated into what they’ve dubbed “Baby Nut.” Since the introduction of Baby Nut, Buzzfeed reports that Twitter’s exploded as they’ve deemed “Baby Nut” to be one of the weirdest commercials to premiere at the 2020 Super Bowl. Along with this public outrage, Movie Web said that a new form of tension began as people put Baby Nut up against Baby Yoda, also known as “The Child” from the hit 2019 Disney+ series “The Mandalorian.”
Since premiering, the Baby Nut versus Baby Yoda debate has been one of the only things to take up my Twitter feed. Somehow they’ve managed to make more traction on my social media than the Super Bowl and the Iowa Caucus.
I saw the Baby Nut commercial live and all I have to say is I’m taking the Baby Yoda side in this debate solely for the fact that I despise everything that is Baby Nut. I already lost it when they decided to kill off Mr. Peanut, a basic mascot that’s done absolutely nothing wrong. To see that they’ve reconstructed Mr. Peanut into his own version of a Muppet Baby only pushed me over the edge.
Look, Planters was smart for hoping for this marketing trend. I’ll give them that, but it’s going to get old fast. We already have trademarks like Baby Groot and Baby Shark, so why does Planters need to jump on this baby trend? What’s wrong with the mascots we’ve known for years?
Truthfully, despite the fact that I am pro-Baby Yoda and those, “I’m going to turn Baby Nut into peanut butter tweets” make me hysterical, the whole trend is going to get annoying. As much as I’m enjoying these tweets now, I know I’m going to care less soon. This happens everytime companies start to overuse a concept or blow something out of proportion. One personal example I can think of is when the hit 2013 Disney film “Frozen” came out. I loved it, but as a month passed and I kept seeing and hearing “Let It Go” or “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” everywhere I went, I got frustrated.
If you want to indulge in Baby Nut or this trend in general, live your best life. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with following a trend like this and if it gives you joy, be happy. However, I will be annoyed if this trend gets blown completely out of proportion.
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