He’s Alive! Kool-Aid Man’s Tears Resurrect Mr. Peanut in Planters Super Bowl Spot

In Planters’ final spot, which was under wraps until it aired during the second quarter of the Super Bowl, Mr. Peanut came back to life. The 30-second ad, titled “Tribute,” shows Mr. Peanut’s funeral, attended by Mr. Clean, the Kool-Aid Man and the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, plus the two celebrities who owe him their lives, Matt Walsh and Wesley Snipes.

As Snipes delivers a eulogy, the Kool-Aid man sheds a tear, which falls on the cemetery plot where Mr. Peanut has been laid to rest. As soon as the tear hits the dirt, a plant begins to sprout, and a baby Mr. Peanut is revealed. After making a dolphin-like noise, the #BabyNut, as Planters has dubbed it, says “I’m back,” and quickly asks “Where’s my monocle?”

The iconic mascot made headlines just over a week ago, when Planters released a pre-Super Bowl spot that showed Mr. Peanut dying after swerving his famous Nutmobile to avoid hitting an armadillo in the road, but sending him, Snipes and Walsh off a cliff. The trio managed to grab a branch, but Mr. Peanut fell to his death after he let go as it started to break.

The news of Mr. Peanut’s death spread throughout the internet rapidly, with #RIPeanut trending on Twitter within minutes. The move was a huge one for the brand: Planters first introduced the Mr. Peanut character, with his cane, top hat and monocle, all the way back in 1916, making him 104 years old. However, the death of basketball superstar Kobe Bryant last Sunday brought the campaign to a halt, as Planters pulled back on all paid media and promotion ahead of the Big Game, and chatter around Mr. Peanut’s demise simmered down as a result.

Planters still went ahead with airing its final Super Bowl spot, which proved the many’s predictions right: Mr. Peanut is not, in fact, dead after all. And in fact, fans of the newly-dubbed #BabyNut can order merchandise featuring the new nut, including hats, plush toys, socks and more. #BabyNut is also livestreaming on his Twitter account.

But perhaps even more newsworthy is the fact that the Kool-Aid Man’s tears have the power to bring people—or, in this case, a sentient peanut—back to life.