Cracker Barrel’s recent rebrand and makeover sparked online outrage, with some parts of the MAGA right calling the changes “woke.” Van Lathan explains why he is frustrated people are stuck in "another culture war when real stuff is going on." The CNN NewsNight panel debates the chain's logo change. #CNN #News
00:00On the all-time list of weirdest culture wars, this one's got a rank pretty high.
00:05And for one company, an iconic company, the price that it is paying is also very high.
00:10Here's the bottom line, at least we think.
00:13Cracker Barrel has updated its logo. You see it right there.
00:17The redesigned logo and decor, whether you love it or hate it, is change.
00:22It's pretty standard for companies to update from time to time, but not according to MAGA.
00:27The right is now calling the chain woke, and the stock price fell off a cliff today over it.
00:32Some of them are upset that they took away Uncle Herschel.
00:35The president's son asked, what the F is wrong with them?
00:38One MAGA account with nearly 4 million followers said that the CEO should face charges for this crime against humanity.
00:46And a MAGA podcaster took it one step further.
00:51And got rid of the cracker and the barrel.
00:55They erased the white guy sitting outside of the Cracker Barrel store.
01:02White people are about to riot.
01:05It's getting sticky.
01:06Because the CEO of Cracker Barrel is as woke as they come.
01:10She's destroying a great American brand.
01:13I don't know if this is satire or what, like, but yeah, I guess they got rid of the cracker, his words, and the barrel at the same time.
01:24And so now it's about to be Civil War Part 2 in the country.
01:29Make it make sense.
01:30First off, I think it's wrong to paint this as MAGA world is outraged.
01:37Sure, there are people in that sphere that are.
01:39But I've seen a lot of folks who have no allegiance or alliance to MAGA that have complained about this.
01:47And why?
01:48It's because there's a resistance to change.
01:50Specifically, a resistance to changing things that aren't broken.
01:55And Cracker Barrel works because Cracker Barrel is consistent.
01:58When you go on a road trip, you know that you're going to get good food at a good price at the next exit.
02:04And you can go in and you have the kitschy decor.
02:07It makes you feel like you're at home or in grandma's living room.
02:11That's what people want.
02:12They don't want bland, boring, cookie-cutter, minimalist places that feel like fill-in-the-blank fusion restaurant.
02:19I believe you.
02:21I believe that you believe that.
02:23Did you all get that?
02:24You believe me.
02:25But I have to point out there are two main things.
02:28One, Cracker Barrel has not been doing well.
02:31I hate to break it to you, but long before all of this, going all the way back to, from my look at this graphic, July 2021 or thereabouts, the stock has been in decline.
02:43Okay?
02:43So this is a brand that's been in trouble for some time.
02:46But then on top of that, listen, it's not just me saying it's MAGA.
02:51Okay, here's Byron Donalds, a sitting Republican congressman.
02:54He says,
02:54A woke rebrand?
02:59Not everything is woke.
03:14I think we're abusing the term a little bit too much where it's losing its meaning, and that's really important because some things actually are woke, and we should call it like it is.
03:22However, in this case, from a marketing perspective, if revenues are declining, you've got to switch it up.
03:27You've got to implement a new strategy.
03:28But who at that roundtable was thinking to themselves, ah, yes, let's go back to the minimalism of five years ago that is sterile and bland and neutered, and let's rob this iconic, timeless company of all of its character and charm and fun history and country vibes.
03:45That's not super smart.
03:47Maximalism is the moment.
03:49And also Gen Z?
03:50Gen Z, we love Cracker Barrel.
03:51There's a lot of, like, bad corporate decision-making happening.
03:55But isn't that capitalism?
03:56Right.
03:57Aren't they allowed to be?
03:58Aren't they allowed to make mistakes?
03:59And the market will decide.
04:00And the market will decide.
04:02They're supposed to stand for private companies to be able to make their own decisions about their strategy they're offering, their brand, you know, evolving to meet their consumers' needs.
04:10And, by the way, the four Cracker Barrels that actually already underwent this transformation of the new branding apparently are doing very well and are meeting earnings.
04:17So, to your point.
04:18Okay, so, to your point, let me play what the CEO said because she kind of spoke to that.
04:21Let's listen to this.
04:24I think what's important is that we are listening to our guests.
04:27We're doing this all for them.
04:29What they've said is they love the new seating.
04:31We're adding in booths, making the chairs more comfortable.
04:33But what's important is things that people love about Cracker Barrel, the soul of Cracker Barrel is not changing.
04:38The rocking chairs are still there.
04:40The fireplace is there.
04:41The peg game.
04:42All the things that make Cracker Barrel, Cracker Barrel, the vintage decor, it's still there and it's working.
04:47The results affirm that we're headed in the right direction.
04:49What if all the customers are coming at you hard enough about the look of the restaurants and they want to go back to the old way?
04:56Would you do it?
04:57Honestly, the feedback's been overwhelmingly positive that people like what we're doing.
05:03She's woke.
05:05You say not everybody in America is part of this.
05:08Well, welcome to what it feels like to have been a moderate Democrat for like the last 10 years when anything the most lunatic person on the left said was assigned to absolutely everyone on the other side.
05:16I have to say, the president's son, okay?
05:20This is not just like a lunatic on the right.
05:21You know what's funny about that is he lying.
05:23He don't know nothing about Cracker Barrel.
05:25He did not grow up with Cracker Barrel.
05:26He has no clue.
05:28They're not dipping the crackers into caviar.
05:30He don't know nothing about what he's talking about.
05:32He has no clue.
05:33There's a lot of people.
05:34This is the thing that annoys me about this the most.
05:37It's like, stop giving them stuff to cry about.
05:40Like, I get it.
05:41Like, this whole thing, I understand that the want is to continue to move and all of this.
05:46But now we get to get stuck on another meaningless culture war when there's real stuff that's actually going on.
05:53But can I ask you on a serious note, and I'm sorry to have interrupted you, Terry, but on a serious note, the undercurrent of a lot of this is that this is a company that no longer has a policy of not hiring LGBTQ people,
06:08that has tried to create a workplace environment that is welcoming to all of its employees.
06:14And for that reason, people like right-wing activist Robbie Starbuck are saying that they are woke.
06:21There is an undercurrent that if you acknowledge the existence and perhaps the humanity of people who are LGBTQ or whatever, then suddenly you become woke and suddenly you become entitled to this kind of backlash.
06:35There's a weird fringe on both sides.
06:37Most people just want breakfast.
06:39You know, I mean, they really don't want to fight about who's...
06:41And they're live and let live.
06:42We are fair-minded, decent people who are mostly live and let live.
06:46You go into it, you see somebody who's maybe different from you at the cracker, but they're not going to storm out.
06:51You know, it's fine.
06:51How dare they have somebody who's gay in there, actually?
06:53They're pandering, and I will say, the reaction to this is...
06:56But it's not a...
06:56Hold on, hold on, hold on.
06:57To hire someone?
06:58Well, I actually...
06:59I actually...
06:59No, by basically saying that we are going to be overtly progressive and in our posture...
07:04Somebody's qualified to hire.
07:05That's a corporate decision that they are allowed to make.
07:08And if people don't want to go eat there, they don't have to.
07:10But to attack the company, to do this cancel culture thing, which I thought the right opposed cancel culture.
07:15I thought they opposed...
07:16Well, supposedly, right?
07:17I thought they opposed grievance politics.
07:19I thought they opposed victimization.
07:21I thought they opposed all of these binaries.
07:23But now, all of a sudden, they don't like this company because it's too woke, and they want to cancel the company.
07:27By the way, a couple of things.
07:28Number one, I actually don't agree that it's just the fringe of the right.
07:32I think the president and other people, they run on these culture war issues.
07:35They took Sidney Sweeney and the entire discourse around Sidney Sweeney and blew it up when they needed a lifeline from everybody's laser focus on other things.
07:45I think that the culture war issues right now are actually steroids to the people that want to use the changing of America and the perceived changing of America as ammunition to ram through all of these policies.
08:01I think that there's a definite through line between this right here and...
08:05I think most Americans just want a normal revolution.
08:09You don't think most Americans just want normal?
08:11Because what Cracker Barrel had before...
08:12What's abnormal?
08:13I don't get hiring gay people that have normal...
08:16But also, like, no, but, like, just rip a logo that didn't need to be changed.
08:20But that's not up to you.
08:22That's not up to me.
08:22But we don't know why they changed the logo.
08:27I don't understand.
08:28I mean, the assumption here is that they took the white guy off the logo.
08:32But maybe they just changed the logo and simplified it.
08:35I don't know.
08:36I mean, we just actually don't...
08:37They said they went through multiple rebrands.
08:38They had five different logos.
08:39But now, the lobby looks like a Holiday Inn, which is weird.
08:40People don't have to like the logo, and maybe they'll change it back.
08:43But, like, it's...
08:44Pete, you were saying...
08:45Well, I just wanted to say, as someone who actually lives in the Midwest, in the heartland
08:48of America, I have a lot of friends who are watching tonight.
08:52When they saw the intro, and we were going to talk about Cracker Barrel, my phone blew
08:56up.
08:57And they said, I am so angry.
08:59I hope you express that anger.
09:00They're actually...
09:02Yeah, they're in touch with what people are talking about in an upset way.
09:07They're angry...
09:07Have they gone to Cracker Barrel in the last year?
09:10I haven't asked them, but I'm sure they have.
09:11I mean, I think this would be very important, because I do think that there are a lot of
09:14people who are going to get angry about these things, but they're not stepping foot in
09:17a Cracker Barrel.
09:18So you think this rebrand is going to get people in the door?
09:20I'm not saying that.
09:21I'm just saying the CEO is saying that it has been positively received by people who are
09:26actually coming in the restaurant.
09:27I will tell you this, though, this rebrand is buying Cracker Barrel publicity that they
09:32could not have dreamed of.
09:35And a falling stock price.
09:36Perhaps like Semi-Semi.
09:38What the consumer does after that, I know I'm probably going to check it out.
09:41I say that all the way.
09:42I say brother barrel.
09:44I say put a brother on the side of the barrel and just go all the way to really get people
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