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Cracker Barrel’s CEO, Julie Masino, is stepping down, nan edifice announced connected Monday, astir a twelvemonth aft nan institution was swept into a governmental maelstrom complete projected modernizations to its branding.
Critics connected societal media denounced nan Tennessee-based rustic edifice concatenation arsenic “woke” arsenic good arsenic “sterile and soulless” aft it unveiled an updated logo that removed Uncle Herschel, nan overall-clad man leaning against a tube successful nan restaurant’s original logo, past August. Donald Trump weighed in connected nan updates soon after, posting: “WTF is incorrect pinch Cracker Barrel?!” and demanding connected societal media that nan institution “admit a mistake”.
The institution announced that it would revert backmost to its aged logo soon aft nan societal media guidance exploded. Masino, who has served arsenic nan chain’s CEO since 2023, told nan rightwing commentator Glenn Beck successful December that she felt “fired by America” aft nan controversy.
Cracker Barrel’s banal dropped astir 3% aft nan announcement of Masino’s departure. The chain’s caller CEO, David Deno, will return complete connected 10 August, and Masino will stay until October to thief pinch nan transition.
“Cracker Barrel is simply a genuinely iconic American brand, defined by its unsocial operation of lukewarm state hospitality, timeless appeal, and heavy relationship pinch guests crossed generations,” Deno said successful a statement.
Masino’s departure nan latest fallout from societal media-fueled backlash against brands accused of appealing to definite governmental ideals. The Harris Poll found past year that a 4th of Americans person changed their shopping habits to align pinch their morals, pinch 50% of Democrats and 41% of Republicans responding that they stopped shopping astatine stores opposing their governmental views.
Some companies person quickly felt nan financial strain of these calls to action. In 2023, aft Target announced a pridefulness period postulation and Bud Light aired an advertisement pinch a transgender influencer, some companies announced declines successful sales. On nan different broadside of nan governmental aisle, Target was pulled arsenic a sponsor from Minneapolis’s yearly pridefulness show past twelvemonth aft it announced it was ending its diversity, equality and inclusion policies.
Not each of these boycotts person been successful, though – Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey saw awesome occurrence astatine its world container agency debut, contempt Elon Musk and different critics castigating nan movie’s cast arsenic portion of a “woke” agenda.
Cracker Barrel has had a history of discriminatory curen against diners and staff. In 1991, nan concatenation blocked nan hiring of LGBTQ+ workers and dismissed 11 unit members, though it later backed down from that policy. In 2004, Cracker Barrel paid $8.7m to settle favoritism allegations from Black customers who said they were denied work and Black labor who said they received much “back of house” assignments compared pinch their achromatic counterparts.
