He's Back! Baby Nut Returns to Social Media After a Monthslong Disappearance

There's a lot of uncertainty in the world right now—thanks, in large part, to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. But today, the world got an answer to one question: What happened to Baby Nut? Baby Nut, you may recall, is the reborn version of Mr. Peanut, Planters's 104-year-old mascot, who perished in a nutmobile accident (and subsequent fall off a cliff) at the beginning of this year in a pre-Super Bowl spot that caused quite a stir. Since Feb. 11, no one had heard from Baby Nut on social media—a platform where he made a splash in the days following his funeral and simultaneous rebirth, which aired on Super Bowl Sunday. To further refresh your memory, the death of Mr. Peanut was a stunt was part of a larger campaign from Planters, owned by Kraft Heinz, for the Super Bowl. The plan was that after announcing Mr. Peanut's death in the weeks leading up to the Big Game, viewers would then have the opportunity to tune into Mr. Peanut's funeral on Super Bowl night itself. However, when Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, the campaign came grinding to a halt. Kraft Heinz paused all paid media on the campaign, but remained committed to running the funeral spot on Super Bowl Sunday. When the spot ran, viewers saw Mr. Peanut return to life—thanks to the magic, life-reviving tears of another famed Kraft Heinz mascot, the Kool-Aid Man—only this time, he was a Baby Nut. Just days after the Super Bowl, Samantha Hess, brand manager for Planters, told Adweek that the brand decided to bring Mr. Peanut back as a baby in order to breathe new life into the iconic mascot. "There is this renewed appreciation for these fictional characters after their death, and then they come back with a renewed sense of purpose to what they’re doing, which helps to set up something bigger and a little bit different," she said. For the first few days after the Super Bowl, Baby Nut took social media by storm. He livestreamed dance moves from his peanut-filled room, posted polls and interacted with other brands. [kickout id="1"] Not even two full weeks after his resurrection, Baby Nut went silent. His account ceased posting, with no more adorable GIFs and cute quips. To make matters worse, the Kool-Aid Man, whose tears, as previously mentioned, have magical qualities, also went missing in another campaign as he went searching for a new flavor. Eventually, the Kool-Aid Man was found after a month earlier this month in Brooklyn's Coney Island. (The Kool-Aid campaign and the Planters Super Bowl campaign were both handled by VaynerMedia.) Mr. Peanut's death made headlines across the globe—so it begged the question, why exactly, would Baby Nut disappear so soon after his debut? The account went silent over two full months. And when he did post again, his first tweet was an ad for Cheez Balls. Today, however, Baby Nut made his official return to social media, tweeting: "Hello! I’ve got some exciting updates to share. First, for those who have asked, am I Mr. Peanut? When a nut like me completes its life cycle, our spirit moves to another shell. So technically, I’m Mr. Peanut, but I pretty much have to start from scratch." According to the legume himself, Baby Nut said that his disappearance was just due to a mixup, which then led to a period of self-reflection. He tweeted: "I lost my Twitter password and then decided, you know what? Maybe I could use a reset." It seems, however, that Baby Nut's disappearance was just a fluke—and the little legume is here to stay.[article_summary section="3"] "I’ve got a lot to learn, but I look forward to growing back into the peanut you know and love," he said. "It’s what I was born to do. Twice, apparently." A representative for Planters did not immediately respond to a request for more comment on what Baby Nut has been up to for the past two months.