
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 20, 1993                   TAG: 9307200008
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.                                LENGTH: Short

PAPA PEANUT'S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG . . .

After standing stiff and formal for nearly eight decades, Mr. Peanut is finally becoming a '90s kind of a guy.

The Planters' trademark will still have the top hat, monocle and cane. But the packaging for new nut products being introduced this year shows Mr. Peanut sporting cowboy boots, or kicking back on a beach wearing a lei.

Mr. Peanut dates to 1916, when a 14-year-old boy won a design contest with a drawing of a peanut with arms and legs. A commercial artist added the now-familiar top hat, monocle and cane.

Mr. Peanut is one of the world's best-known corporate trademarks, say officials at Nabisco Foods' Planters division, based in Winston-Salem. But the old image appealed more to older consumers than to younger people.

Planters' is selling new products in resealable foil bags that the company is using for the first time, instead of its traditional cans and jars. Thomas Barbitta, the company's new products manager, said the bags will encourage consumers to take the new products outdoors.

"Not too many people do that with cans or jars."

by CNB