Two years ago, Planters was gearing up for a big Super Bowl spot and campaign that included the death of its century-old mascot Mr. Peanut. But not long after the brand touted his demise and advertised a funeral during the Big Game, the real-life death of basketball star Kobe Bryant occurred, throwing Planters’ plans into jeopardy.
“We knew immediately that we did not want to be talking about a fake cartoon death at a moment when there was a real death,” said Jeremy Mullman, partner and director of media engagement at ICF, which works with Planters. “We made a decision to stop the pre-promotion of that Super Bowl campaign for a few days.”
The decision to pause all online advertising was a smart one. Mullman said that the brand got credit for being sensitive and the brand ultimately moved forward the following week with the planned Big Game appearance, which included the mascot’s rebirth as Baby Nut.
Planters also got early experience in dealing with a situation all brands were thrust into when COVID-19 reared up in March of 2020—the dilemma of when to pull a marketing campaign due to current events.
“There is a bit more sensitivity in terms of posting or communicating during a big crisis,” said Smita Reddy, U.S. brand chair and global client leader at Edelman. “There’s so much paid social or organic social—you don’t want to inadvertently show up in the feed when there’s a big emergency or a national or international crisis.”