A few weeks prior to the Super Bowl the brand Planters took over Twitter’s trending page after killing off their brand mascot, Mr. Peanut. When it comes to Mr. Peanut, he is usually someone that you would hear about in passing. To the younger generation, he doesn’t mean much. Over time, Planters became somewhat of a forgotten brand since not many kids are buying bags of peanuts, and if they are, buying them specifically for the planters brand. Planters realized that they needed to revamp their brand and become relevant again, and to do this, they had to kill off Mr. Peanut…or so we thought.

       The commercial aired by Planters during the Super Bowl started out as a funeral for Mr. Peanut. In the audience were other brand mascots such as Mr. Clean and the Kool Aid Man. As the ad plays out, the Kool Aid Man’s tears bring Mr. Peanut back to life, but this time, as an adorable baby. The hashtag #BabyNut soon took to Twitter. Many people on the app started falling head over heels for Planters new mascot. Soon the brand became more popular in those few minutes than it ever had before.

This idea to rebrand and make their mascot a baby was no doubt caused by the Baby Yoda trend. In an effort to reach a younger audience to become talked about, Planters saw the effect that Baby Yoda on Twitter uses and thought that their brand could get just as popular. By piggybacking off of the Star Wars brand strategy, many people are thinking that Planters is trying to rip-off Baby Yoda with Baby Nut. As the idea for baby themed mascots seems to gain more traction, how many more brands will start to hop on the baby bandwagon.