A-Rod needed saving from those awful kale chips.
With Super Bowl weekend upon us featuring the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, people everywhere are ready to be entertained by the biggest companies best commercials of the year. Sure, lots will tune into see these two NFL teams battle up, but many are just as excited, if not more, for the ads.
During last year's Super Bowl, Planters aired the commercial featuring Mr. Peanut behind the wheel of the Nutmobile hot rod in some Evil Knieval-type stunt manuevering to save Alex Rodriguez, aka A-Rod, from eating kale chips while watching the big game. Mr. Peanut sends the Nutmobile flying threw the air after hitting a jump in a construction zone, and none other than Charlie Sheen is sitting there as it goes skidding past leaving a show of sparks. Mr. Peanut showed himself as the real MVP by saving the 44-year-old retired baseball player with his #CrunchTime.
On January 21st, Planters killed off Mr. Peanut in an ad that was supposed to air this year's Super Bowl. The commercial showed Mr. Peanut, Wesley Snipes, and Matt Walsh getting into a car accident. All three end up clinging on to a tree branch that is ready to snap under the weight, and Mr. Peanut decides to sacrifice himself to save his two friends. The plan was to have a funeral for Mr. Peanut during the third quarter of the Super Bowl and for those to "pay respects" in a social media campaign while being entered into a contest to grab Mr. Peanut gear.
However, due to the recent passing of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and 7 other lives that were tragically taken in a recent helicopter accident in Calabasa, California, the new Planters Super Bowl ad has been put on a temporary pause on outlets such as Twitter and YouTube.
"We wanted you to know that 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," a spokesperson for Planters said in an emailed statement.
