Where was all the outrage when Wendy's took the old-timey fonts off of the logo? Or when Arby's stylized the cowboy hat? Or when McDonalds ditched the clown? Or when Kentucky Fried Chicken became "KFC"?. Or when Bob Evans unveiled a new "farm fresh" look for its packaging?
So, was it about the barrel, or about the cracker?
"Selective outrage is when people scream at the wrongs of their enemies but fall silent at the same wrongs committed by their friends." -- Unknown
> Where was all the outrage when Wendy's took the old-timey fonts off of the logo? Or when Arby's stylized the cowboy hat? Or when McDonalds ditched the clown? Or when Kentucky Fried Chicken became "KFC"?. Or when Bob Evans unveiled a new "farm fresh" look for its packaging?
It was there then too. There were laments for Wendy's restyle, and one still reads complains about the change in McDonalds branding and style.
But also none of them were seen as icons of the "deplorables" side of the culture wars. A mere corporate rebranding is not the same as a corporate rebranding that looks like removing its Southern/old timey trappings.
What was more of an "icon of the deplorables" than Kentucky Fried Chicken?
Even when NASCAR banned the "Civil War, Second Place" surrender flag, the outrage seemed to last about two days max.
Cracker Barrel? I had just assumed it was a moribund brand the carcass of which was long in the process of being stripped by private equity anyway. If that's what it takes to be an "icon" these days, then they'd better get themselves some better icons.
Probably not. But the same people who likely go there seemed pretty worked up over Starbucks holiday cups even though they'd probably never been in one either. All this manufactured outrage simply has to stop.
> What was more of an "icon of the deplorables" than Kentucky Fried Chicken?
KFC has been a global generic franchize for decades, nothing Southern specific about it. And the name was shortened like 35 years ago - I'm pretty sure even without social media, there was some complains back then too.
> Even when NASCAR banned the "Civil War, Second Place" surrender flag, the outrage seemed to last about two days max.
Well, I don't think this one will keep up long either...
Gunnar, I don't think it is about Cracker Barrel. It's another straw on the camel's back. It is about normies who think a formerly decent and dependable restaurant experience while traveling is now pretty crappy, and are rightly pushing back at elites--girl bosses--who think the problem is branding.
I also think it ties in to the fact that normies (and I count myself as one) don't want a lot of the crap the elites think we want: AI in every facet of our lives, self-driving cars, technology that prioritizes safety and wrings all the fun out of life, faucets that we can't control the flow or temperature of the water. In short, we're tired of being treated as consumers. And quit f'ing with everything.
I somewhat understand that. But it's sort of as duplicitous as "normies" complaining about how the general stores downtown went out of business because they would rather shop at the big box store with an insipid smiley face as a logo. Patronize a business and make it successful enough that the owners don't even *think* about changing the logo https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Coca-Cola_logo.svg .
The difference now is that in the last five years, the culture of online outrage has taken on an enormous life of its own. People are being spoonfed hyperbolic outrage by the shovelful thanks to how much time we as a collective culture spend online.
So of course a beloved brand makes a change and people are going to throw fits. No one knows how to healthily process this stuff anymore.
Sorry, this is a red herring fallacy. Analogies are considered poor logic. You are ignoring that the country is in the middle of a cultural revolution. A Neo Marxist culture war or so called "woke" phenomena which also is a misnomer that minimizes the concentrated political and industrial effort to move us toward a Maoist China.
It's not about the packaging as much is it about a devious adherence to class warfare in the guise of racism. it's also worth remembering that the American financial class has always been enamored of socialisms of one sort or another. Recall only its role in the financing of the three great socialisms of the early 20th century: Lenin, Roosevelt, and Hitler.
Two main reasons with woke morality and the ruling class are destroying the values that historically have been an obstacle to state power such as individualism self-reliance and self-responsibility and secondly by promoting the idea that one's group identity determines whether one is a victim or an oppressor the ruling class are executing a strategy of divide and conquer, they are pitting race against.
Race gender against gender Rich against poor and they are in inciting the masses to fight amongst each other and in the process Overlook the real danger that should unite us the unceasing growth of centralized estate control. The promotion of group identity politics—where individuals are categorized primarily by race, gender, or class—creates internal conflicts within society. By framing people as either victims or oppressors, the ruling elite manipulates social tensions, distracting attention from systemic issues like government overreach.
Your comparison, intentional or poor judgement? diverts attention from this cultural revolution which has been fought against other corporations....succesfully. Nobody has forgotten anything and the outrage is anything but selective,
Target,which lost $2.4–$12 billion in sales and 2.5 million shoppers in 2025, with a confirmed 3.8% sales drop in Q1, partly linked to Starbuck’s anti-DEI campaign and subsequent boycotts. Target’s CEO resigned in 2025 due to the sales drop and boycott pressure following the DEI rollback. Would you like a complete list of corporations which have caved to the constant public pressure against "woke" and "Dei" policies. They would be a much more reasonable analogy than simple brand changes that occurred 25 years ago that had different motivations?
Currently, Ted is the only substack I have a paid subscription. Two reasons. First reason was his interview with Rick Beato where I believed he had the pulse on the Zeitgeist of the time with music and art. The second was the realization that he was an advocate of the humanities. The Greeks had 7 disciplines people were required to study where the quadrivium were paired with the trivium. Aristotelian logic was a primary study as it's aim was to derive the truth. When fallacious reasoning is exploited right here within in his substack, it gives me great pause.
So where do the current administration's steps toward government takeovers of private industry and demands for corporate fealty fit into your narrative? That certainly feels pretty (national) socialist to me. Genuinely curious as to the cognitive dissonance required to not be more upset about that than "wokeness".
non-sequitor, veiled ad hominem and mind reading fallacy veiled all in one reply. Excellent. True student of the humanities. And you meant a communist revolution against the republic as I explained it? But you want to know my opinion on Intel? OK
The history of companies going bankrupt or broken up (to allow other units to fail) after being dropped from the Dow as a stand alone entity is very high.
A gov't bailout of a stock that can't make a new high highlights this risk. Solution to the latter, don't invest in it. I won't. I have free will through research to avoid the trap of jumping on the Intel bandwagon. NONE for those who might want me dead or a slave. See the difference?
Too big to fail bailouts not my favorite economic policy. Judges and politicians who perpetrate crimes that harms the public to forward a political agenda, against the constitution. Treason. See the difference?
And for the record, no response is considered an agreement. At least you acknowledge the woke.
I don't give a hoot about cracker barrel. What they do with their logo or their interior design. I guarantee CEO and Board of Directors in meetings doing damage control. And if they wake up Monday morning, and their stock is tanking, I won't be crying. I do care about the repercussions of political policy of the last 20 years and the effect on our daily lives.
And for the record, I agree with Ted. I don't give a crap about a faux Americana company that makes you feel good because you like the feeling of the good ole days. Not my brand whatever logo they choose.
Thank God we're not serious then. They can go to whatever new equivalent of "Five Guys" or "In and Out" is in fashion this week to get their Current Thing.
"Enter the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization in the United States. Its Corporate Equality Index is something of a benchmark that rates companies on how friendly their policies and practices are for workplace inclusion. You'll often find investment firms like BlackRock work with the HRC to judge companies, and those who fall out of favor with the HRC often find themselves facing pressure from BlackRock to raise them."
"HRC is known for pressuring companies to become more "inclusive" and leftist in nature, and if a bad score is given, it becomes a target for leftist hate, which could also result in bad press, boycott efforts, and more.
So basically, it's a leftist bullying operation, and Cracker Barrel was a prime target for bullying."
A stupid article from a questionable source. Besides, nearly all corporate decisions are made because of external forces. There's nothing "woke" about the new logo or about the current atmosphere in Cracker Barrell. This is a case of people looking for something to get worked up about.
"You have to force behaviors, and at BlackRock, we are forcing behaviors,"
Who said that?
There's also nothing particularly southern about the new logo of the current atmosphere at Cracker Barrel. People who are looking for that can go somewhere else.
You've nailed the real issue here - https://chrisbray.substack.com/p/the-chair-never-even-gets-warm - it's an attack on culture......and here's the real deal - culture determines everything - and we lost it due to our ignorance - but the pushback has started and there ain't no stopping it now - Blackrock: you and your bastahd corporate buddies have been warned!
If you want to get worked up over something related to Blackrock, get outraged over the firm buying every house that is not nailed down and turning it all into rental property. That drives up home prices because fewer houses are available to buy. Period. Amazing how the media will cover NIMBY movements or regulations and blame all of them for housing prices yet overlook the far bigger contributions of vulture capitalism.
I like Cracker Barrel. It definitely has its own thing going on. It may well have all been planned in a boardroom 50 years ago, but that doesn't mean the restaurant sucks. I don't go often, so maybe I've missed something. But the food is still good. The menu is southern cooking, and I know of no chain restaurant that has such a unique menu. What is the equivalent to Cracker Barrel? There isn't one. Now, how many Mexican chains are there? Pizza? Burgers? Fried seafood? Fried chicken?
People might laugh when I used the word 'ambiance', but whatever that decor is, I'll take it over any other chain anywhere. And I hope to hell that the corporate wiz kids don't try to update it to some slick "latest thing" just like all the other slick latest things. Ho hum.
I can tell you from decades of experience in brand design that if you change a trademark, people will scream bloody murder. It's usually not the customers, though, who don't even notice most of the time. It's the design community.
Here's the embarrassing truth: Designers of logos are jealous of firms who get the big juicy assignments. They're always sure (or pretend to be sure) that they could've done a better job, that their taste is superior, that they're the more deserving of that project and the money it brings. That's all there is to it. Now you know.
As to the actual redesign, it's pretty good for what it needs to do. I'd give it an A-minus. In two years' time everyone will be fake-loving the new one and scoffing at the old one, if they even remember it. I can give you scores of examples, but I don't want to distract from Ted's beautifully simple point.
I had a similar thought yesterday, but this article articulated that thought so much better than I could. And the reference to Jean Baudrillard is excellent. One can see something similar regarding the “Old South” movement, and particularly the use of the Confederate flag. Symbols divorced from reality to the point that the symbols themselves are more real than the reality they used to represent.
In another vein, our obsession with brands and large corporations has to end. It’s Stockholm syndrome-esque. They destroyed more humane ways of life and took us captive in their soulless world; and gee-willikers isn’t it grand.
Ah, yes—the death of authenticity, served lukewarm with a side of reheated biscuits. The Cracker Barrel panic is less a populist uprising than the sound of a thousand nostalgia junkies mainlining brand equity and calling it heritage. You’d think BlackRock snuck into Meemaw’s kitchen at midnight and burned down her cast-iron skillet.
The drawl in country music? A performance. The boots? A costume. Cracker Barrel? A Crate & Barrel with banjo Muzak and a porch tacked on. If you want actual “country values,” go buy your chicken-fried steak from a family diner that still knows how to use a skillet. Otherwise, keep signing those online petitions to bring the barrel back. It’s the perfect American act of rebellion: loudly demanding authenticity from a corporation while dining on frozen hashbrown casserole.
Country music accents are often Appalachian accents, and may or may not be performative. There are multiple “Southern” accents, including Appalachian accents, all of which are much more common in rural areas. Most people with stronger Southern/Appalachian accents can code switch it on and off. This was actually a topic on NPR recently.
Boots are regional but are frequently seen in real life in areas where people ride Western. They are standard daily wear for many in those areas. I have yet to see someone barrel race without a cowboy hat and boots. May or may not be performative.
Cracker Barrels are primarily highway restaurants that serve country-style food that usually isn’t available in restaurants in urban areas, such as pinto beans with cornbread and salt pork, chicken fried steak, biscuits with sausage gravy, etc. People in rural areas usually do eat non-chain versions locally or cook it themselves. People who like traditional country food don’t always live in rural areas and can’t always cook well.
> If you want actual “country values,” go buy your chicken-fried steak from a family diner that still knows how to use a skillet.
People like their country shacks and "holes in the wall", but they also like to ditch urban snoberry and enjoy their "country style" corporate franchize (just one among dozens of globo franchizes if that's not too much to ask) even if it's not authentic enough for hipsters...
Kind of they can like Townes Van Zandt but also appreciate some Good Times & Tan Lines fun...
I'm also convinced the ever growing rise of regional breakfast chain First Watch (14% increase in total revenue year to year) has had a major influence on their desire to rebrand Cracker Barrel. I even see knock-off similarities between the new CB restaurant interior and the First Watch decor.
I was surprised that First Watch was so big. My first experience with it was in the Cincinnati suburbs maybe two years ago, and I thought it was a fairly small Florida-based chain that had just started working its way up north. Imagine my surprise when I pulled up a list of locations and saw a bunch in the Philly area, not far from where I live.
I had a similar experience when driving cross-country and trying to find healthier food options in the food desert that is America once you get outside the major cities. And the first time dining there was kind of heavenly as they were about to close and gave us avocado toasts with easily a half inch layer of mashed avocado from edge to edge on the bread.
This is an astroturf uprising, directed by the usual suspects. "Ya'll keep yer big-city hands off our precious country way of life!" Cut to shot of Don Jr. wearing jeans.
I have eaten at Cracker Barrel just once and it was no great shakes. Instead of revising the logo, the chain's management should improve the quality of the meals.
> Hey, I love American traditions as much as the next bumpkin. But Cracker Barrel isn’t a tradition by any stretch of the imagination. The company was founded on September 19, 1969.
That's enough for 3 generations to have grown with it...
35 years ago, I went to Mississippi during the Christmas holidays. I had the privilege to go to a local restaurant out in the woods/wetlands. It was a great experience. Real catfish, fried ochra (apologies my spelling sucks) fresh cornbread, etc. It was an eye opener. Never forget it. I highly recommend getting off the beaten path. There are gems everywhere.
" extravagant Southern twangs that dominate country music. People rarely talk like that in the South nowadays—but in music the drawl is exaggerated" I'd be curious on your take of Oliver Anthony's accent and word choices. In Virginia you can still hear more of that in working people than you might expect, and I think a great part of his popularity is them identifying with it - and it's the felt authenticity of his language that connects with those who don't actually hear it in everyday life. His music has a lot of Sprechgesang going on and that seems to amplify the effect.
I would have said that the accent is still moderately common in the South, and also that most Southerners can code switch the living hell away from it in a professional setting.
Too many non-Southerners are very biased against a Southern accent to not be able to do it.
I remember one time interviewing for a job. I thought the interview went well, the two men who interviewed me were cordial and encouraging. But when I left their office I turned the wrong way down the hallway, immediately realized that and turned around, walking past their door. As I did so I heard one say to the other, "So, are we going to hire the corn pone?" And they both laughed.
Until then, I hadn't really thought about having an accent.
"most Southerners can code switch the living hell away from it in a professional setting." Except for the "most" I agree (might be more like half), and think they're the ones in the "felt authenticity" group, but my handyman guy's language sometimes has Elizabethan whiffs and I don't think it would ever occur to him to code switch. It's as though he knows he's a throwback and revels in it. I'm gonna ask him next time. As for non-Southerners, I'd love a survey of Anthony's popularity to see if there's a geographic correlation. He says he got a great response in the UK and Australia, and that they relate to his message seeming as strongly as here.
By professional context, I meant white collar professional jobs. Doctor, lawyer, professor, technology, business.
I have a mild Southwest Virginian accent (subtype of Appalachian), and I come from a family of largely very well educated, successful people. I still have most of my accent in casual environments. I do not in formal professional ones. I do not consciously code switch. It just happens. And this is coming from someone who, in casual settings, occasionally still uses dialect like the double modal “might could.”
That the code switching is usually non-conscious is a great point. I'm up in Orange County and grew up on a dairy farm, so heard the accents and word choices all around me, but never used them much - my mom had been an English teacher and modeled "professional" English, and was not above correcting my grammar in my letters home from college ;-)
Where was all the outrage when Wendy's took the old-timey fonts off of the logo? Or when Arby's stylized the cowboy hat? Or when McDonalds ditched the clown? Or when Kentucky Fried Chicken became "KFC"?. Or when Bob Evans unveiled a new "farm fresh" look for its packaging?
So, was it about the barrel, or about the cracker?
"Selective outrage is when people scream at the wrongs of their enemies but fall silent at the same wrongs committed by their friends." -- Unknown
Addendum: Q.e.d. Ponderosa Steak House in the early '70s https://substack.com/@retroist/note/c-148629617
"It was always about the Cracker." - me.
> Where was all the outrage when Wendy's took the old-timey fonts off of the logo? Or when Arby's stylized the cowboy hat? Or when McDonalds ditched the clown? Or when Kentucky Fried Chicken became "KFC"?. Or when Bob Evans unveiled a new "farm fresh" look for its packaging?
It was there then too. There were laments for Wendy's restyle, and one still reads complains about the change in McDonalds branding and style.
But also none of them were seen as icons of the "deplorables" side of the culture wars. A mere corporate rebranding is not the same as a corporate rebranding that looks like removing its Southern/old timey trappings.
What was more of an "icon of the deplorables" than Kentucky Fried Chicken?
Even when NASCAR banned the "Civil War, Second Place" surrender flag, the outrage seemed to last about two days max.
Cracker Barrel? I had just assumed it was a moribund brand the carcass of which was long in the process of being stripped by private equity anyway. If that's what it takes to be an "icon" these days, then they'd better get themselves some better icons.
Cracker Barrel regulars aren't anyone you know, obviously.
Probably not. But the same people who likely go there seemed pretty worked up over Starbucks holiday cups even though they'd probably never been in one either. All this manufactured outrage simply has to stop.
> What was more of an "icon of the deplorables" than Kentucky Fried Chicken?
KFC has been a global generic franchize for decades, nothing Southern specific about it. And the name was shortened like 35 years ago - I'm pretty sure even without social media, there was some complains back then too.
> Even when NASCAR banned the "Civil War, Second Place" surrender flag, the outrage seemed to last about two days max.
Well, I don't think this one will keep up long either...
Then nobody'd better tell 'em that the Mountain Dew hillbillies were removed! https://youtu.be/dyu4Tpoq8hc .
Gunnar, I don't think it is about Cracker Barrel. It's another straw on the camel's back. It is about normies who think a formerly decent and dependable restaurant experience while traveling is now pretty crappy, and are rightly pushing back at elites--girl bosses--who think the problem is branding.
I also think it ties in to the fact that normies (and I count myself as one) don't want a lot of the crap the elites think we want: AI in every facet of our lives, self-driving cars, technology that prioritizes safety and wrings all the fun out of life, faucets that we can't control the flow or temperature of the water. In short, we're tired of being treated as consumers. And quit f'ing with everything.
I somewhat understand that. But it's sort of as duplicitous as "normies" complaining about how the general stores downtown went out of business because they would rather shop at the big box store with an insipid smiley face as a logo. Patronize a business and make it successful enough that the owners don't even *think* about changing the logo https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Coca-Cola_logo.svg .
People forget that before the white apple, and the rainbow apple, there was this logo https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Apple_first_logo.png .
That is a problem when there's no more buns.
The difference now is that in the last five years, the culture of online outrage has taken on an enormous life of its own. People are being spoonfed hyperbolic outrage by the shovelful thanks to how much time we as a collective culture spend online.
So of course a beloved brand makes a change and people are going to throw fits. No one knows how to healthily process this stuff anymore.
Sorry, this is a red herring fallacy. Analogies are considered poor logic. You are ignoring that the country is in the middle of a cultural revolution. A Neo Marxist culture war or so called "woke" phenomena which also is a misnomer that minimizes the concentrated political and industrial effort to move us toward a Maoist China.
It's not about the packaging as much is it about a devious adherence to class warfare in the guise of racism. it's also worth remembering that the American financial class has always been enamored of socialisms of one sort or another. Recall only its role in the financing of the three great socialisms of the early 20th century: Lenin, Roosevelt, and Hitler.
Two main reasons with woke morality and the ruling class are destroying the values that historically have been an obstacle to state power such as individualism self-reliance and self-responsibility and secondly by promoting the idea that one's group identity determines whether one is a victim or an oppressor the ruling class are executing a strategy of divide and conquer, they are pitting race against.
Race gender against gender Rich against poor and they are in inciting the masses to fight amongst each other and in the process Overlook the real danger that should unite us the unceasing growth of centralized estate control. The promotion of group identity politics—where individuals are categorized primarily by race, gender, or class—creates internal conflicts within society. By framing people as either victims or oppressors, the ruling elite manipulates social tensions, distracting attention from systemic issues like government overreach.
Your comparison, intentional or poor judgement? diverts attention from this cultural revolution which has been fought against other corporations....succesfully. Nobody has forgotten anything and the outrage is anything but selective,
Target,which lost $2.4–$12 billion in sales and 2.5 million shoppers in 2025, with a confirmed 3.8% sales drop in Q1, partly linked to Starbuck’s anti-DEI campaign and subsequent boycotts. Target’s CEO resigned in 2025 due to the sales drop and boycott pressure following the DEI rollback. Would you like a complete list of corporations which have caved to the constant public pressure against "woke" and "Dei" policies. They would be a much more reasonable analogy than simple brand changes that occurred 25 years ago that had different motivations?
Currently, Ted is the only substack I have a paid subscription. Two reasons. First reason was his interview with Rick Beato where I believed he had the pulse on the Zeitgeist of the time with music and art. The second was the realization that he was an advocate of the humanities. The Greeks had 7 disciplines people were required to study where the quadrivium were paired with the trivium. Aristotelian logic was a primary study as it's aim was to derive the truth. When fallacious reasoning is exploited right here within in his substack, it gives me great pause.
Lastly, if you think it's just about a logo and interior design, think again. https://x.com/robbystarbuck/status/1959097759350378743
So where do the current administration's steps toward government takeovers of private industry and demands for corporate fealty fit into your narrative? That certainly feels pretty (national) socialist to me. Genuinely curious as to the cognitive dissonance required to not be more upset about that than "wokeness".
non-sequitor, veiled ad hominem and mind reading fallacy veiled all in one reply. Excellent. True student of the humanities. And you meant a communist revolution against the republic as I explained it? But you want to know my opinion on Intel? OK
The history of companies going bankrupt or broken up (to allow other units to fail) after being dropped from the Dow as a stand alone entity is very high.
A gov't bailout of a stock that can't make a new high highlights this risk. Solution to the latter, don't invest in it. I won't. I have free will through research to avoid the trap of jumping on the Intel bandwagon. NONE for those who might want me dead or a slave. See the difference?
Too big to fail bailouts not my favorite economic policy. Judges and politicians who perpetrate crimes that harms the public to forward a political agenda, against the constitution. Treason. See the difference?
And for the record, no response is considered an agreement. At least you acknowledge the woke.
I don't give a hoot about cracker barrel. What they do with their logo or their interior design. I guarantee CEO and Board of Directors in meetings doing damage control. And if they wake up Monday morning, and their stock is tanking, I won't be crying. I do care about the repercussions of political policy of the last 20 years and the effect on our daily lives.
And for the record, I agree with Ted. I don't give a crap about a faux Americana company that makes you feel good because you like the feeling of the good ole days. Not my brand whatever logo they choose.
Uncle Ben’s / Aunt Jemima? Anyone, Anyone- Bueller…
Or when the Starbucks mermaid covered up her tits!
No serious person who is making good use of having a pulse gives a rip about Cracker Barrel.
Thank God we're not serious then. They can go to whatever new equivalent of "Five Guys" or "In and Out" is in fashion this week to get their Current Thing.
Interesting article (as always). But I think it misses a key point.
Cracker Barrel was compelled to change its image by outsiders. That's not capitalism or the free market.
See this article:
https://redstate.com/brandon_morse/2025/08/22/the-disastrous-cracker-barrell-rebrand-finally-gets-an-explanation-and-it-will-surprise-no-one-n2193129?utm_source=rsmorningbriefingvip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl
"Enter the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization in the United States. Its Corporate Equality Index is something of a benchmark that rates companies on how friendly their policies and practices are for workplace inclusion. You'll often find investment firms like BlackRock work with the HRC to judge companies, and those who fall out of favor with the HRC often find themselves facing pressure from BlackRock to raise them."
"HRC is known for pressuring companies to become more "inclusive" and leftist in nature, and if a bad score is given, it becomes a target for leftist hate, which could also result in bad press, boycott efforts, and more.
So basically, it's a leftist bullying operation, and Cracker Barrel was a prime target for bullying."
A stupid article from a questionable source. Besides, nearly all corporate decisions are made because of external forces. There's nothing "woke" about the new logo or about the current atmosphere in Cracker Barrell. This is a case of people looking for something to get worked up about.
"You have to force behaviors, and at BlackRock, we are forcing behaviors,"
Who said that?
There's also nothing particularly southern about the new logo of the current atmosphere at Cracker Barrel. People who are looking for that can go somewhere else.
Yes, the site was called Red State and had plenty of fawning articles about JD "hillbilly" Vance!☹️
And you have evidence that took place and caused the change?
not really!😆
Jesus Christ was a notorious leftist bully, but nobody ever complains about that.
What an idiotic statement
You've nailed the real issue here - https://chrisbray.substack.com/p/the-chair-never-even-gets-warm - it's an attack on culture......and here's the real deal - culture determines everything - and we lost it due to our ignorance - but the pushback has started and there ain't no stopping it now - Blackrock: you and your bastahd corporate buddies have been warned!
If you want to get worked up over something related to Blackrock, get outraged over the firm buying every house that is not nailed down and turning it all into rental property. That drives up home prices because fewer houses are available to buy. Period. Amazing how the media will cover NIMBY movements or regulations and blame all of them for housing prices yet overlook the far bigger contributions of vulture capitalism.
You mean Blackrock isn't into real estate? Do your own research......that's the best way to learn!
I like Cracker Barrel. It definitely has its own thing going on. It may well have all been planned in a boardroom 50 years ago, but that doesn't mean the restaurant sucks. I don't go often, so maybe I've missed something. But the food is still good. The menu is southern cooking, and I know of no chain restaurant that has such a unique menu. What is the equivalent to Cracker Barrel? There isn't one. Now, how many Mexican chains are there? Pizza? Burgers? Fried seafood? Fried chicken?
People might laugh when I used the word 'ambiance', but whatever that decor is, I'll take it over any other chain anywhere. And I hope to hell that the corporate wiz kids don't try to update it to some slick "latest thing" just like all the other slick latest things. Ho hum.
Yeah. What you said.
Ive never been inside a cracker barrel but i do believe i agree with you completely
Exactly.
Well I guess the food went downhill so that was why the sales were disappointing. TBH I've never eaten at one!
I can tell you from decades of experience in brand design that if you change a trademark, people will scream bloody murder. It's usually not the customers, though, who don't even notice most of the time. It's the design community.
Here's the embarrassing truth: Designers of logos are jealous of firms who get the big juicy assignments. They're always sure (or pretend to be sure) that they could've done a better job, that their taste is superior, that they're the more deserving of that project and the money it brings. That's all there is to it. Now you know.
As to the actual redesign, it's pretty good for what it needs to do. I'd give it an A-minus. In two years' time everyone will be fake-loving the new one and scoffing at the old one, if they even remember it. I can give you scores of examples, but I don't want to distract from Ted's beautifully simple point.
Will wait patiently for some of these examples in a future Scarlett Files post. ;o)
I had a similar thought yesterday, but this article articulated that thought so much better than I could. And the reference to Jean Baudrillard is excellent. One can see something similar regarding the “Old South” movement, and particularly the use of the Confederate flag. Symbols divorced from reality to the point that the symbols themselves are more real than the reality they used to represent.
In another vein, our obsession with brands and large corporations has to end. It’s Stockholm syndrome-esque. They destroyed more humane ways of life and took us captive in their soulless world; and gee-willikers isn’t it grand.
I don't boycott over a logo change.. but mess with the food and Hell No!
that's the real problem - they nailed the recipes. I can make most of the things on that menu, and I still like to eat theirs.
Ah, yes—the death of authenticity, served lukewarm with a side of reheated biscuits. The Cracker Barrel panic is less a populist uprising than the sound of a thousand nostalgia junkies mainlining brand equity and calling it heritage. You’d think BlackRock snuck into Meemaw’s kitchen at midnight and burned down her cast-iron skillet.
The drawl in country music? A performance. The boots? A costume. Cracker Barrel? A Crate & Barrel with banjo Muzak and a porch tacked on. If you want actual “country values,” go buy your chicken-fried steak from a family diner that still knows how to use a skillet. Otherwise, keep signing those online petitions to bring the barrel back. It’s the perfect American act of rebellion: loudly demanding authenticity from a corporation while dining on frozen hashbrown casserole.
Country music accents are often Appalachian accents, and may or may not be performative. There are multiple “Southern” accents, including Appalachian accents, all of which are much more common in rural areas. Most people with stronger Southern/Appalachian accents can code switch it on and off. This was actually a topic on NPR recently.
Boots are regional but are frequently seen in real life in areas where people ride Western. They are standard daily wear for many in those areas. I have yet to see someone barrel race without a cowboy hat and boots. May or may not be performative.
Cracker Barrels are primarily highway restaurants that serve country-style food that usually isn’t available in restaurants in urban areas, such as pinto beans with cornbread and salt pork, chicken fried steak, biscuits with sausage gravy, etc. People in rural areas usually do eat non-chain versions locally or cook it themselves. People who like traditional country food don’t always live in rural areas and can’t always cook well.
> If you want actual “country values,” go buy your chicken-fried steak from a family diner that still knows how to use a skillet.
People like their country shacks and "holes in the wall", but they also like to ditch urban snoberry and enjoy their "country style" corporate franchize (just one among dozens of globo franchizes if that's not too much to ask) even if it's not authentic enough for hipsters...
Kind of they can like Townes Van Zandt but also appreciate some Good Times & Tan Lines fun...
I'm also convinced the ever growing rise of regional breakfast chain First Watch (14% increase in total revenue year to year) has had a major influence on their desire to rebrand Cracker Barrel. I even see knock-off similarities between the new CB restaurant interior and the First Watch decor.
I was surprised that First Watch was so big. My first experience with it was in the Cincinnati suburbs maybe two years ago, and I thought it was a fairly small Florida-based chain that had just started working its way up north. Imagine my surprise when I pulled up a list of locations and saw a bunch in the Philly area, not far from where I live.
It's pretty good, too.
I had a similar experience when driving cross-country and trying to find healthier food options in the food desert that is America once you get outside the major cities. And the first time dining there was kind of heavenly as they were about to close and gave us avocado toasts with easily a half inch layer of mashed avocado from edge to edge on the bread.
This is an astroturf uprising, directed by the usual suspects. "Ya'll keep yer big-city hands off our precious country way of life!" Cut to shot of Don Jr. wearing jeans.
MAGA!
I have eaten at Cracker Barrel just once and it was no great shakes. Instead of revising the logo, the chain's management should improve the quality of the meals.
> Hey, I love American traditions as much as the next bumpkin. But Cracker Barrel isn’t a tradition by any stretch of the imagination. The company was founded on September 19, 1969.
That's enough for 3 generations to have grown with it...
From a branding perspective, I was disappointed with BlackRock... They need better creative design folks in the room.
And yes, this is part of the flattening of culture that Kyle Chayka talked about in 'Filterworld'
35 years ago, I went to Mississippi during the Christmas holidays. I had the privilege to go to a local restaurant out in the woods/wetlands. It was a great experience. Real catfish, fried ochra (apologies my spelling sucks) fresh cornbread, etc. It was an eye opener. Never forget it. I highly recommend getting off the beaten path. There are gems everywhere.
" extravagant Southern twangs that dominate country music. People rarely talk like that in the South nowadays—but in music the drawl is exaggerated" I'd be curious on your take of Oliver Anthony's accent and word choices. In Virginia you can still hear more of that in working people than you might expect, and I think a great part of his popularity is them identifying with it - and it's the felt authenticity of his language that connects with those who don't actually hear it in everyday life. His music has a lot of Sprechgesang going on and that seems to amplify the effect.
I would have said that the accent is still moderately common in the South, and also that most Southerners can code switch the living hell away from it in a professional setting.
Too many non-Southerners are very biased against a Southern accent to not be able to do it.
I remember one time interviewing for a job. I thought the interview went well, the two men who interviewed me were cordial and encouraging. But when I left their office I turned the wrong way down the hallway, immediately realized that and turned around, walking past their door. As I did so I heard one say to the other, "So, are we going to hire the corn pone?" And they both laughed.
Until then, I hadn't really thought about having an accent.
Code switching became automatic after that.
"most Southerners can code switch the living hell away from it in a professional setting." Except for the "most" I agree (might be more like half), and think they're the ones in the "felt authenticity" group, but my handyman guy's language sometimes has Elizabethan whiffs and I don't think it would ever occur to him to code switch. It's as though he knows he's a throwback and revels in it. I'm gonna ask him next time. As for non-Southerners, I'd love a survey of Anthony's popularity to see if there's a geographic correlation. He says he got a great response in the UK and Australia, and that they relate to his message seeming as strongly as here.
By professional context, I meant white collar professional jobs. Doctor, lawyer, professor, technology, business.
I have a mild Southwest Virginian accent (subtype of Appalachian), and I come from a family of largely very well educated, successful people. I still have most of my accent in casual environments. I do not in formal professional ones. I do not consciously code switch. It just happens. And this is coming from someone who, in casual settings, occasionally still uses dialect like the double modal “might could.”
That the code switching is usually non-conscious is a great point. I'm up in Orange County and grew up on a dairy farm, so heard the accents and word choices all around me, but never used them much - my mom had been an English teacher and modeled "professional" English, and was not above correcting my grammar in my letters home from college ;-)
We should be judging politicians by the size of their flag lapel pin. That policy stuff is just a distraction.