Cracker Barrel enlists TikTok influencers and attempts damage control with pandering message to customers. Fails.

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Cracker Barrel tried saying that everyone loves their new rebrand. Then they went to it was only a vocal minority who disliked their rebrand. Now they moved onto the next stage of the NYC Marketing/Private Equity Executive crisis management: Acknowledge the overwhelming criticism and claim to hear it, but say you’re making the changes no one wants anyway. You might even say the response from Cracker Barrel is “bless their heart,” but that would require the people responsible for Cracker Barrel’s rebranding to know anyone who likes Cracker Barrel.

Before we get to the apology, there was a pop-up event in New York City to celebrate the rebrand. It illustrates the point that this isn’t about wokeness, it’s about elitism.

Take a brand beloved by America. Say it needs to be changed in order to justify your job. Hire marketing firms from New York City run and staffed by people who hate the parts of America outside of New York City and don’t understand why the parts outside of New York City hate them. Ruin everything customers like about your brand to appeal to Park Slope and the Upper West Side, who will never use your brand. Act surprised that there is backlash to marketing changes that the people who enjoy the product never wanted to appeal to people who don’t and never will.

Exhibit Q:

So, yeahhhhh. The people who thought THAT was a good idea claim they are “truly grateful for your heartfelt voices” and that those voices have “shown us that we could’ve done a better job sharing who we are and who we’ll always be.” But also, suck it rubes. The changes are staying, and the old man that was in the logo — that was an image of founder Dan Evins’ Uncle Hershal — is gone.

Judging by the responses, I don’t think this apology is going to cut it.

“The food has been subpar for a while, but people still kept coming back. Why? Because for some of us it’s the nostalgia. We long to visit people and places that we can’t anymore, a time that no longer exists.”

“Before making such drastic changes, consider what your core customers want. The food and service needed improvement, but the decor wasn’t broken. Let’s hope you’re not intentionally trying to drive the business into the ground.”

“We hear what you are saying, and it is an unapologetic clever play on words. Yes it is very well written but its narcissistic to say the least.”

In summary:

“How to write ‘We don’t care what you think’ in 14 paragraphs and make it sound sweet.

Again, they could have just said “bless your hearts.” That would have required people responsible knowing anyone who lives outside of Manhattan, let alone anyone who actually went to Cracker Barrel.

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Brodigan is Grand Poobah of this here website and when he isn’t writing words about things enjoys day drinking, pro-wrestling, and country music. You can find him on the Twitter too.

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