Mr. Peanut’s Funeral Will Go On Despite Kobe Bryant Tragedy

[Update: Planters clarified that it will still be running its Super Bowl funeral for Mr. Peanut. in the 3rd quarter of the Super Bowl. The previously reported “pause” only impacted its paid advertising, and “some other outreach in the immediate wake of this tragedy.”

[Original Story]
When Planters decided to kill off their beloved Mr. Peanut character, there was a tiny corner of the internet that felt it was a bit morbid. Otherwise, their commercial featuring Wesley Snipes and comedian Matt Walsh was a wild success.

However, with the untimely death of global icon Kobe Bryant, Planters has thought better of their marketing angle, and decided to postpone their ad for Super Bowl Sunday.

“We are saddened by this weekend’s news and Planters has paused all campaign activities, including paid media, and will evaluate next steps through a lens of sensitivity to those impacted by this tragedy,” Planters said, Monday.

The “funeral” for Mr. Peanut was originally planned to air during the 3rd quarter of Sunday’s big football game, where they presumably would have introduced a new product.

News broke Sunday of Bryant’s death, along with his daughter Gianna, and seven others who were all involved in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. As you can imagine, Planters’ carrying on with its original approach would have been pretty distasteful at a time like this.

Planters has not commented on their next move, but it was definitely a good call to not go any further with the planned commercial.