Kobe Bryant Death Puts Mr. Peanut Super Bowl 2020 Campaign on Pause

After killing off iconic mascot Mr. Peanut in a viral commercial earlier this week, Planters is putting a pause on its costly Super Bowl campaign following the death of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant. 41-year-old Bryant and 13-year-old daughter Gianna, along with seven others, perished in a helicopter crash Sunday in Calabasas, California, just days before Super Bowl 2020. Ahead of the big game, Kraft Heinz-owned Planters already committed to its ad campaign centered around the death of Mr. Peanut, who perished when saving actors Matt Walsh and Wesley Snipes.

The company's 2020 Big Game commercial sees Mr. Peanut lose control of his vehicle, the Nutmobile, before driving over the edge of a canyon cliff. Peanut, Walsh and Snipes then cling to a branch before Peanut falls to his death, seemingly confirmed when the Nutmobile explodes.

"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," Kraft Heinz said in a statement (via Variety). According to the report, the company will "pull back" on paid advertising already scheduled to roll out across the coming days on sites like YouTube and Twitter. There currently are no plans for Planters to make changes to Super Bowl Sunday, where it will air a followup ad depicting Mr. Peanut's funeral.

The spot depicting Mr. Peanut's sacrifice is scheduled to appear before Super Bowl kickoff during the pregame show and will be followed by the funeral spot during the game's third quarter. The brand previously said they will air Mr. Peanut's funeral "so the world can mourn the loss of the beloved legume together."

The decision to kill off the mascot after 104 years was inspired by a high-profile death in Marvel Studios' Avengers: Endgame, where Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) made a valiant sacrifice before perishing.

"We started talking about how the internet treats when someone dies — specifically, we were thinking about fictional characters, [like when] Iron Man died. When Iron Man died, we saw an incredible reaction on Twitter and on social media," said Mike Pierantozzi, group creative director of VaynerMedia, who is behind the viral ad campaign. "It's such a strange phenomenon. We did the unthinkable: we created a program and an idea where Mr. Peanut dies, and dies specifically sacrificing himself for his friends, which has always been a tenet of who he is and what he does — he always puts others first."