--- title: We Must Face This Announcement That Mr. Peanut Has 'Died' description: Mr. Peanut was murdered by ad execs for a Super Bowl 2020 commercial. canonical: https://time.com/5769695/mr-peanut-twitter/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-01-22T19:54:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T19:53:01.000Z og:title: Today We Must Face This Announcement That Mr. Peanut Has 'Died' og:description: Mr. Peanut was 'murdered' by ad execs og:url: https://time.com/5769695/mr-peanut-twitter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c19c7ba77ea9caa/698a092c4ee262c836316f82/MrPeanut.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: 90th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Today We Must Face This Announcement That Mr. Peanut Has 'Died' twitter:description: Mr. Peanut was 'murdered' by ad execs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c19c7ba77ea9caa/698a092c4ee262c836316f82/MrPeanut.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # It Is With Heavy Hearts That We Must Face This Announcement That the Dapper Mr. Peanut Has 'Died' > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=95022170-8880-4844-8d21-b542a2f4baa9&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Updated: Dec 12, 2023 7:53 PM UTCPublished: Jan 22, 2020 7:54 PM UTC  Mr. Peanut attends the 90th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 24, 2016 in New York City. Mr. Peanut attends the 90th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 24, 2016 in New York City. Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Updated: Dec 12, 2023 7:53 PM UTCPublished: Jan 22, 2020 7:54 PM UTC It is with heavy hearts that we must report that Mr. Peanut has passed away. Don’t worry, the death of the pants-less, top hat-wearing, anthropomorphic peanut was for a good cause—a [Super Bowl 2020](https://time.com/collection-post/4116116/top-10-powerful-ads/) ad. The aged peanut was killed off after 104 years of loyal service to the Planters corporation in an ad that was released in advance of the football game. While it would have made sense for the ambulatory nut to be roasted, boiled, assaulted (a salted, get it??) or even eaten, instead the creative minds at the VaynerMedia advertising agency had the brave legume sacrifice himself to save the lives of _Veep_ star Matt Walsh and _Blade_’s Wesley Snipes. It was a wrenching scene made even more so, thanks to the soundtrack of the Cutting Crew’s heartwrenching “(I Just) Died in Your Arms”. As a memorial to the iconic nut, ownership of the Mr. Peanut [Twitter account](https://twitter.com/mrpeanut) has been transferred to “The Estate of Mr. Peanut” and is filled with tributes to the fancy-dressed legume. > [](https://twitter.com/MrPeanut/status/1220013408180895745) Even other brands have paused in their own marketing schemes to pay tribute to the famous peanut: > [](https://twitter.com/MrPeanut/status/1220053319588204545) > [](https://twitter.com/BoJackHorseman/status/1220040097476698112) > [](https://twitter.com/Oreo/status/1220039499863986177) > [](https://twitter.com/MrPeanut/status/1220051202093789184) > [](https://twitter.com/saugatuckbrew/status/1220046326064390144) Last year, Mr. Peanut was flying cars with Charlie Sheen and Alex Rodriguez in Planters’ [Super Bowl ad](https://time.com/5515400/best-super-bowl-commercials-2019/). This year, he was murdered by some ad exec. It’s a tough life for a famous nut. While Mr. Peanut will not lie in state, fans mourning the loss of the world’s only nut to wear both spats and a monocle, can watch Mr. Peanut’s funeral, which will be broadcast live during the third quarter of [Super Bowl](https://time.com/3685708/super-bowl-ads-vw-the-force/) in the form of a Planters ad, naturally. Mr. Peanut’s demise is just the latest stunt to get people buzzing about [Super Bowl ads](https://time.com/4653281/super-bowl-ads-commercials-most-influential-time/). In years past, advertising agencies have had Britney Spears shill for Pepsi, invented the Budweiser frogs, hired Ridley Scott to direct, and gotten _Golden Girls_ star Betty White cast as football player in a Snickers commercial. And is Mr. Peanut’s death any more horrifying than KFC’s [fried chicken-scented bath bombs](https://time.com/5007964/kfc-fried-chicken-bath-bombs/)? > [](https://twitter.com/samthielman/status/1220046580004331522) > [](https://twitter.com/ItsMigdallTime/status/1220067174963908608) > [](https://twitter.com/MrPeanut/status/1220094341546479621) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5769695/mr-peanut-twitter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5769695/mr-peanut-twitter/"},"headline":"It Is With Heavy Hearts That We Must Face This Announcement That the Dapper Mr. Peanut Has 'Died'","datePublished":"2020-01-22T19:54:43.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T19:53:01.000Z","description":"Mr. Peanut was murdered by ad execs for a Super Bowl commercial","url":"https://time.com/5769695/mr-peanut-twitter/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime","clickmonsters"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c19c7ba77ea9caa/698a092c4ee262c836316f82/MrPeanut.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c19c7ba77ea9caa/698a092c4ee262c836316f82/MrPeanut.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"90th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade","caption":"90th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5769695/mr-peanut-twitter/","name":"It Is With Heavy Hearts That We Must Face This Announcement That the Dapper Mr. Peanut Has 'Died'"}}]}] ```