Cracker Barrel, the US restaurant chain known for its Southern comfort food and rustic charm, has found itself at the centre of a political firestorm after a logo change sparked backlash from the right, including from Donald Trump and his son. The company, which had updated its logo to a sleeker design without its long-standing 'Uncle Herschel' character, quickly reversed the decision after shares fell and a YouGov poll showed 76% of respondents preferred the old logo.
Experts say the controversy highlights how the chain has become a symbol in America's culture war. 'It's part of the cultural landscape,' said Neeraj Bharadwaj, a marketing professor at the University of Tennessee. 'It has this stylised representation of what many would define as the good old days.' But for others, the brand's imagery evokes 'histories of exclusion, of racial inequity', said Jarvis Sam, a professor at Brown University and the University of California, Berkeley.
The company's history includes a 1991 statement that it was founded on 'traditional American values' inconsistent with employees who failed 'to demonstrate normal heterosexual values', leading to the firing of 11 LGBTQ+ workers. In 2004, it paid $8.7m to settle claims of racist treatment of Black customers and discrimination against Black workers across 16 states.
Sam described the logo row as a 'proxy for the larger culture war being developed around who actually owns the American story'. He added that political figures used the minor change to deliver a message that 'woke culture is problematic and will create a threat to American society'. The company's initial statement said it 'could have done a better job sharing who we are and who we'll always be', before later confirming the old logo would stay.
