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On the surface, it looked like a marketing disaster:

Beloved American restaurant chain serving up simple Southern favorites in unpretentious general store environment “loses $143 million in market value after woke brand fiasco.”

Indeed, it has not been a great news cycle for Cracker Barrel, the Lebanon, Tennessee-based chain first opened in 1969, where diners are treated to simple pleasures like biscuits and grits, peg solitaire games on the tables, and a country store full of family-friendly trinkets.

But after announcing a major rebrand that would see modernized store remodels, menu additions, and a logo change, the perpetually-offended rightwing woke police unleashed, slamming the updates as the result of “woke girl bosses” and “racist DEI policies.”

They were outraged primarily over the removal of “Uncle Herschel,” the iconic figure leaning on a barrel modeled after founder Dan Evins’ real-life uncle, from the logo, which would now feature a modernized text-only font.

If that doesn’t sound scandalous to you — or an affront to your “values” — you’re not living in MAGA’s America, where Oreos are straight, Bud Light is cisgender, and The Little Mermaid is white.

These strict keepers of tradition are always on the highest alert for marketing mischief that would mess with their way of life — that is, being able to exist without ever having to see references to modernity, progress, or inclusion — the MAGA axis of evil.

Cracker Barrel, according to these guardians of American cultural conservatism, is the ultimate in tradition, heretofore untarnished by the ills of liberalism, and its regressive, nostalgic purity must be protected from those hoity-toity liberal elites.

(Just don’t tell them its largest institutional investor is multinational BlackRock, Inc., which manages $12 trillion in assets globally. Or that a lighted acrylic Holy Family figurine from the country store costs a whopping $150. Or that they have fancy menu items like $5 iced caramel lattes and Sugar Plum Mimosas with edible gold glitter — just like Uncle Herschel used to order, I’m sure.)

These are the same people who’ve boycotted everything from Keurig Coffee to Gillette razors, Pepsi to Nordstrom, over perceived wokeism in rebrands, social media campaigns, advertising decisions, or marketing efforts.

And to some considerable success. MAGA boycotts have led some companies to pull back campaigns or apologize for offending statements. One in particular nearly destroyed beer juggernaut Bud Light, which lost approximately $1.4 billion in sales during a 2023 boycott over a campaign with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney. Two years later, sales haven’t recovered.

Thanks to the ill-fated rebrand, Cracker Barrel was surely on the Bud Light express, destined for a disaster it could not recover from.

Except, it wasn’t.

In under a week, the company figured out how to navigate the choppy waters of cultural conservatism. In a word: capitulation.

After announcing its rebrand last Wednesday, the company responded to the backlash four days later with a time-buying admission, saying, “If the last few days have shown us anything, it’s how deeply people care about Cracker Barrel. We’re truly grateful for your heartfelt voices. You’ve also shown us that we could’ve done a better job sharing who we are and who we’ll always be.”

It reassured customers its values weren’t changing and Uncle Herschel would still be part of the brand.

Then, Tuesday, President Trump took to social media to nudge the company in his preferred direction.

“Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before. They got a Billion Dollars worth of free publicity if they play their cards right. Very tricky to do, but a great opportunity,” Trump posted.

They listened.

Just hours after Trump’s post, Cracker Barrel announced, “We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel. We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our ‘Old Timer’ will remain.”

Naturally, MAGA celebrated its hard-fought victory in the brutal four-day war of tweets.

“This is a BIG win in the culture war for America. Thank you, Cracker Barrel!” said one influencer. “This is what I voted for,” said another.

American exceptionalism restored! Don’t you feel better? Safer? Protected from the violent march of progress at your favorite chicken n’ dumplings purveyor?

Much like universities, media outlets, and law firms, Cracker Barrel learned that the only way to survive in the strongarm era of Trump, where a vocal group of insufferable whiners is going to decide how the rest of us live, is total surrender. Is it particularly courageous? No. Is it sad and pathetic? Definitely.

But you can’t argue it hasn’t been strategically smart. Cracker Barrel stock is up nearly 8%.

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(S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.)

©2025 S.E. Cupp. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.