Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
May he forever roast in peace. Mr. Peanut is dead at 104.
I couldn’t believe it either. Planters was actually killing off the mascot that has had goober-lovers shelling out for shelled peanuts since World War I.
In case you don’t live online, the company announced the death of the famous peanut as a part of a Super Bowl commercial campaign.
The video released online prior to the death notice shows Mr. Peanut and real-life celebrities Wesley Snipes and Matt Walsh barreling along a canyon road in the great Southwest when an armadillo wanders onto the roadway causing Mr. Peanut to lose his monocle along with his control of the Nutmobile.
As the cartoon vehicle and its three occupants plunge over the cliff somehow the three passengers wind up clinging to the same tree branch Wile E. Coyote grabbed every time he went off a cliff. It starts to break due to the combined weight and Mr. Peanut becomes a martyr by sacrificing himself by letting go to relieve the strain on the branch, saving Snipes and Walsh.
Having been a legume lover all my life, I have to admit that Mr. Peanut with the top hat, monocle and cane always creeped me out. Never mind that the dude never wore pants with that fancy hat and no one had used a monocle since the days of Teddy Roosevelt.
The guy just never updated his style. Even I update things every decade or so over my lifetime.
Still, he’s done a pretty good job for Planters and he’s not real. So he could be resurrected for commercial purposes. I’m thinking if the corporate bigwigs at Planters are truly into offing their spokesnut, they can’t seriously pursue someone who adopts Bartholomew Richard Fitzgerald-Smythe (Mr. Peanut’s real name) for trademark infringement, can they?
I really think we have work for Mr. Peanut here in the Portales Valley promoting Valencia peanuts. We did have a bit of a problem in getting our regular celebrity peanut, Buddy McNutty, at the last Peanut Valley Festival. So we need a backup, preferably one that works cheap.
With a now infamous history of poorly timed workplace accidents I figure Mr. Peanut will be ready to work for peanuts.
If this all turns out to be a marketing ruse and you see that rube of an unemployed legume down on skid row, have good old Bartholomew come see me.
Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:
