MAGA erupts over Cracker Barrel logo change, and stock plunges
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The new Cracker Barrel logo jettisons an illustration of a mostly silhouetted man in overalls leaning on the eponymous barrel. Source: Cracker Barrel
Cracker Barrel changed its logo this week, a move that was quickly and widely disparaged by MAGA figures who decried the switch as a "woke" gesture.
The big picture: The response to the Cracker Barrel change expands the typical online-right backlash, which has contributed to companies like Target and Walmart backtracking on some diversity initiatives.
- The MAGA movement frequently rallies against companies for diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, but it's also targeted and boycotted brands for even featuring people of color or LGBTQ+ people in their advertising.
- DEI critics have interpreted the logo change as pro-DEI symbolic.
Driving the news: The new Cracker Barrel logo jettisons an illustration of a mostly silhouetted man in overalls leaning on the eponymous barrel.
- The logo is mostly the same otherwise, featuring the name of the restaurant against a yellow background.
- The man in Cracker Barrel's logo is founder Dan Evins' uncle, who appears in much of the restaurant's other branding and merchandise.
What they're saying: Donald Trump Jr., posted on X Wednesday night: "WTF is wrong with @CrackerBarrel??!"
- Trump responded to another user who slammed the chain's CEO, Julie Felss Masino, for the company's diversity, equity and inclusion commitments.
- "The new logo is so dead and lifeless Democrats are thinking of running it for president in 2028," Sean Davis, CEO of conservative online magazine The Federalist, wrote on X.
- "Let's remove everything charming and distinct from the logo and make it as generic and boring as we possibly can," right-wing political commentator Matt Walsh said.
- "No one asked for this woke rebrand," Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fl.), himself a former Cracker Barrel employee, said on X.
The other side: In a statement to Axios, Cracker Barrel said that the new logo is its "fifth evolution" as well as "a call-back to the original and rooted even more in the iconic barrel shape and word mark that started it all back in 1969."
- "Uncle Herschel remains front and center in our restaurants and on our menu," the company said.
By the numbers: Shares in the restaurant chain dropped about 10% in mid-afternoon trading Thursday.
- "You're about to learn that wokeness really doesn't pay," said Robby Starbuck, an influencer linked to Walmart's DEI overhaul last year.
- The company has been working on reinventing itself after admitting that it had fallen behind the competition.
- Masino turned heads in May when she told investors, "We're just not as relevant as we once were."
Catch up quick: Separate from the logo change, Cracker Barrel has recently come under fire for its DEI policies.
- America First Legal, a conservative nonprofit co-founded by White House aide Stephen Miller, requested in July that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Tennessee attorney general investigate the chain for "potential violations of federal and state civil rights laws stemming from its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies."
- In recent years, Cracker Barrel has launched recruitment efforts for racially and ethnically diverse talent, and has publicly supported the NAACP and LGBTQ+ people.
- That itself was a 180-degree turn from its '90s policies, when it reportedly discriminated against LGBTQ+ applicants and fired those already employed at the chain.
Nathan Bomey and Tal Axelrod contributed.
