Character of the Week: Mr. Peanut

Planters’ Mr. Peanut

In the early 1900’s an Italian immigrant named Antonio Obici opened a fruit stand in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. To make his fruit stand different from the others, he spent $4.50 on a peanut roaster and sold the roasted nuts along with his fruit. Back then, the roaster had to be continuously turned by hand to avoid burning the peanuts. Obici devised a way to keep his roaster turning all by itself so that he could attend to his customers.

A few years of great sales on the peanuts and a growing popularity for the roasted nuts convinced Obici to stop selling fruit and concentrate on selling only the peanuts. Obici and his brother-in-law, Mario Peruzzi, formed a partnership and called their new company Planters Nut and Chocolate Company.

In 1916, Planters held a contest to see who could come up with a character that would be used as the company mascot and trademark. A 14-year old Virginia schoolboy named Antonio Gentile won the contest with his sketch of Mr. Peanut. Planters hired a commercial artist to make Mr. Peanut ready for commercial advertising. He added a monocle, top hat and a cane to suggest good taste.

In 1918, Planters debuted their mascot, Mr. Peanut, in a full page spread in the “Saturday Evening Post.” Planters’ peanuts were the first salted nuts nationally advertised. Mr. Peanut’s advertising jobs have not slowed down since he was introduced to the public in 1916.

In 1937 Mr. Peanut graced the face of a billboard in Times Square, and he went on from there to more print advertisements and television commercials. In 1961 he was even featured as an attraction at the New York’s World Fair! He was in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1997, and when Planters became the “official snack nut of Nascar,” Mr. Peanut appeared in the “Nut” Mobile, a car that resembles a peanut. In 2004, he was given a star on Madison Avenue’s Advertising Walk of Fame!

Mr. Peanut is so popular that “The Peanut Pals,” a group that collects Mr. Peanut memorabilia, was formed in 1978, and is still growing today with more than 900 members. There is a huge assortment of Mr. Peanut collectibles and merchandise, ranging from vintage bobble heads and figurines to tennis balls and umbrellas.

Mr. Peanut is over 90 years old, and still going strong. A legend in the advertising field, he has become a favorite character of people all around the world. It’s hard to separate an icon like Mr. Peanut from the product it sells, and it looks like Mr. Peanut’s face will be the one associated with peanuts for a very long time.

If you want to own a part of American advertising history, be sure to check out our website for the beautiful reproduction Mr. Peanut Porcelain Sign.