Mr. Peanut logo gets an overhaul…
While we can all criticize and moan about corporate logos (something we do all the time at the shop), it’s not often that we get to have a hand in the direction that a particular company logo will take. One such instance is the web-based poll that the folks at Planter’s Peanuts are hosting, in which participants can vote on the accessories that their famous Mr. Peanut logo character will wear. (On a personal note - my first exposure to Mr. Peanut was that of a run-in with a life-sized ‘man in a suit’ version when I was a kid on the Atlantic City boardwalk. Scared me half to death and was the subject of many a bad dream for months afterwards). 
Anyhoo, as part of the company’s 100th anniversary ‘celebrations’ visitors can ‘vote’ on clothing accessories for the ‘new’ version of the character, though truth to tell, they’re not changing the logo that much. Changes are limited to bow ties, cuff links and pocket watches. Not terribly surprising, considering the logo’s history. Mr. Peanut is a wildly successful logo character that dates back to 1916, when he was originally designed by 14 year old Anthony Gentile as part of a contest in Suffolk, VA and falls squarely in the the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” category. While the Mr. Peanut logo character has undergone many changes over the years, they’ve mostly been changes in execution, with the original concept remaining relatively untouched. Over the years, the monocled character has, for the most part, remained pretty much the same. The site also features a neat history of the company and a look at the marketing and branding changes going back through the history of the world’s biggest nut company. Good stuff…
