Mr. Peanut

Mr. Peanut

Mr. Peanut is the advertising logo and mascot of Planters, an American snack-food company and division of Kraft Foods. He consists of a drawing of an anthropomorphic peanut in its shell dressed in the formal clothing of an old-fashioned gentleman: a top hat, monocle, white gloves, spats, and a cane.

History

Planters Peanuts was founded in 1906, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania by Amedeo Obici. In 1916 the company held a contest to create a company logo. A fourteen year-old schoolboy named Antonio Gentile won the contest with his drawing of a Peanut Man and an artist later added spats, a top hat, a monocle, and a cane to the drawing, and Mr. Peanut was born.^[1][2]

By the mid-1930s, the raffish figure had come to symbolize the entire peanut industry. Mr. Peanut has appeared on almost every Planters package and advertisement. He is now one of the best-known icons in advertising history.^[3]

Mr. Peanut has appeared in many TV commercials as an animated cartoon character. More recent commercials have shown him computer animated in a real-world setting.

In 2006, Planters conducted an online poll to determine whether to add a bow tie, cufflinks, or a pocketwatch to Mr. Peanut. The public voted for no change.^{[citation needed]}

While the character's television commercials were often accompanied by an elegant accented narrator, Mr. Peanut never had dialogue. On November 8, 2010, Planters announced that Mr. Peanut would officially be given a voice, supplied by American actor Robert Downey Jr.^[4]

In 2011 Mr. Peanut's "stunt double" named Peanut Butter Doug was introduced to tie-in with the Planter's Peanut Butter launch. The character is voiced by Kevin Dillon.^[5]

In popular culture

• In the twentieth episode of the first season of Friends, when talking about characters who dress well, Joey Tribbiani says Mr. Peanut is a great dresser. Phoebe Buffay, in response, suggests Mr. Peanut is homosexual.
• In the second season of American Dad!, Black Mystery Month, Mr. Peanut is used as a clue in a Da Vinci Code-style mystery.
• In the sixth season episode of The Simpsons, Treehouse of Horror VI, in the segment "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores", one of the giant monsters resembles Mr. Peanut.
• In the second episode of Freakazoid!, the character Toby Danger (a Jonny Quest parody) dresses up as Mr. Peanut in an attempt to sneak into a casino.
• In the 2010 novel Mr. Peanut, a man fantasizes about killing his peanut-allergic wife by force-feeding her peanuts.^[6] "He poured out a handful and ate them and then wiped the salt from his empty hand on his pants. He looked at the chipper Planters Peanuts man tipping his top hat hello and thought about how one bite could kill Alice dead."^[7]

Gallery

Sculpture of Mr. Peanut seated on a bench in Atlantic City, NJ, August, 2006. The sculpture was removed at some time after the photo.

References

1. ^ Peanut Pals website
2. ^ "Planters History of the Planter Nut: Timeline". http://www.planters.com/history.aspx?section=timeline. Retrieved 2010-06-06. 
3. ^ Smith, Andrew F. (2007). The Oxford companion to American food and drink. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195307962. http://books.google.com/books?id=AoWlCmNDA3QC&pg=PT422&dq=planters+%22mr+peanut%22#v=onepage&q=planters%20%22mr%20peanut%22&f=false. Retrieved December 6, 2010. 
4. ^ Robert Downey Jr. is Mr. Peanut
5. ^ Mr. Peanut Now Selling Planters Peanut Butter
6. ^ Sunday Book Review, "Death Match", New York Times
7. ^ Ross, Adam (2010). Mr. Peanut. Borzoi Books. p. 265. ISBN 978-0307270702. http://books.google.com/books?id=zm3ozVKJ8WYC&pg=PA285&dq=planters+peanuts+tipping+alice#v=onepage&q=planters%20peanuts%20tipping%20alice&f=false. Retrieved December 6, 2010. 

External links

• Planters.com: History of the Planters Nut