I love Cracker Barrel! In my twenty-one annual motorcycle trips to the Midwest, Cracker Barrel consistently delivered that warm, down-home Southern cooking and hospitality that started each day just the way Uncle Hershel designed it.
In today’s hyper-reactive marketplace, brands seem to be under constant pressure to change and evolve. However, from a marketing point of view, when change comes at the expense of abandoning your brand, the consequences can be unforgiving.
It takes years to build a brand. Anyone who knows me also knows I believe in branding as defined by three simple truths: Who you are. What you are. What you stand for.
It amazes me that successful products like Bud Light and iconic corporations like Cracker Barrel could make such poor and catastrophic decisions—whether it’s redesigning an iconic logo or partnering with a controversial figure like Dylan Mulvaney. How can you possibly lose sight of your customers and core audience who have served you well for decades? Curious minds would like to know.
Cracker Barrel abandoned its iconic image of “Uncle Hershel” sitting beside a cracker barrel, replacing it with a bland, minimalist design supposedly meant to modernize the brand and attract younger customers.
Wrong move. Nationwide, customers felt the company had abandoned its roots, and criticism came fast and harsh. At last count, this lapse in judgment cost Cracker Barrel nearly $100 million. However, it could have been much worse had they not reversed the decision just days later.
Not so with Bud Light. In 2023, they partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in a campaign to promote inclusivity. That campaign sparked a political firestorm across the country, leading loyal Bud Light customers to boycott the product—and in some cases, publicly destroy it.
Cracker Barrel’s $100 million mistake pales in comparison to Bud Light’s staggering $1.4 billion loss in sales, which ultimately dethroned them as the nation’s top-selling beer.
All of this adds credence to the adage: Go woke, go broke.
A brand and logo are not just concepts and graphics—they represent trust, nostalgia, history, and tradition. By choosing to preserve its original imagery, Cracker Barrel made a strategic decision to honor its heritage and reassure its loyal base.
Bud Light attempted a radical repositioning without fully understanding its audience. Their campaign wasn’t just progressive—it was political. A costly lesson, for sure. If change is needed, it must be evolutionary, not revolutionary.
Brands, businesses, organizations, and people must adapt to survive and thrive—but they must do so with empathy, clarity, and respect for the values that built their success.
Cracker Barrel’s course correction showed that even amid controversy, a brand can recover by reaffirming its identity. Bud Light, on the other hand, is still struggling to regain the market share it lost.
In the end, Cracker Barrel made the right call. It listened. It learned. And it chose legacy over trend. That’s a decision worth applauding—and one that other brands would do well to remember.
Keep your eyes on America’s most loved motorcycle brand, Harley-Davidson. They may be the next corporate tragedy if they aren’t paying close attention to their customer base or ignoring these conspicuous and disastrous business decisions. Just sayin’.
Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly.
See you at Cracker Barrel.