Yes. Feed yourself not those who despise you. Tyrus was a riot about this last night. Lets hope the Liz Warren choir doesn't show up with a woke banjo player at a CB store at a rest stop near you.
There’s no place for DEI in marketing nor education. The US government has had its issues w DEI and lost all respect from the general public. Once the Bud Lite debacle was exposed, the marketers should have done their homework.
Mary Lou, wiser words were never spoken. It looks to me that DEI can more easily be deleted from corporate board rooms than it will be to rid it from educational institutions. The teachers unions have imbedded that nonsense in grade school curricula
for decades as have the universities. When threatened with loss of federal funds they appear to get religion but will always attempt work arounds. Wink! Wink! It will be a longer slog re progressive educational institutions and unions and will depend pretty much on conservatives continuing to be elected in DC. Let us fervently hope that obtains.
Sadly yes...there's no economic leverage against the horrible teachers' unions. But more of how they operate --as large financial supporters of woke and liberal policies while not caring about the children --is becoming public information. Hopefully the days of teachers unions are numbered.
Absolutely right there with you. I've been involved with education for many years and the best way to improve public education is by having Charter Schools. It's a big hill to climb to beat the teachers unions opposition. A good unintended consequence of Charter Schools and the money following the kids might be stripping the unions of their much to powerful lobbying
Like Jerry said, getting this stuff out of the educational institutions is the real problem.. that's where it spawns, and then creates "woke" leaders who want to then go out on the mission field and propagate their religion, tanking companies along the way because they are social justice warriors for the cause. The people who just sway with it will sway back when there is pressure, like Bud Light, or any of these corporations.. but the real problem is the universities, teachers unions, and true believers who've decided this is their hill to die on.
It used to be that these PR marketing missteps could be recovered from, e.g., New Coke.
In today's politicized environment, I'm not sure there's a full recovery possible. The public becomes aware of not just the original misstep, but all the other missteps and woke posturing that happened earlier that they weren't aware of. These things become a way for customers to realize they are not respected, and in fact are detested by the people who want their business.
The thing is, with New Coke, that was an actual attempt by a marketing department to revitalize a brand that was suffering from what they thought was customer tiredness with their core product. Hence the rebranding and reflavoring /reflavoring.
These DEI corporate "refreshes" are not really anything like the New Coke debacle. They are truly an attempt at CULTURAL reformulating. They've convinced themselves that this is the right move for the brand and that it will make them money by currying favor with the culture, and at the same time are convinced also that the move is integral to their mission and values.
The only problem is, these mind-numbed Marxist CEOs and CFOs and marketing managers live in a bubble. They were educated in the bubble and they continue to operate as if everyone else is in that bubble with them. They look at products and brands like Tractor Supply and John Deere and Cracker Barrel and Target, and Bud Light and think, "I know! We should completely alienate a huge percentage of our historic customer base!" What's particularly weird to me is that, they already disdain these brands, because they view them as even Rufo here has described them, as somehow beneath their dignity. They have to know that their customer bases are not generally "progressive," and so they're not going to make a lot of money by alienating them. Yet they continue to forge ahead. That makes me view them as wreckers. They are cultural wrecking balls. They get paid regardless of the outcome. That is the nature of the executive suite. That's why the term "golden parachute" exists. That, and some combination of short selling is almost bound to be in the offing In these instances. How else are they going to make money by doing such seemingly stupid things? These sons of b****** are ripe for RICO investigation.
I truly think that progressive liberalism is a religion and they feel it is their great commission to spread this ideology on these conservative brands. They target these brands specifically that are ripe for this kind of indoctrination. Brands that aren’t doing as well as previously. A board of directors see these young minds that may be able to improve performance. Fortunately in corporate America when there is backlash the board of directors can remove these religious zealots. The bigger problem is with a company like Disney where the board is made up of these zealots itself it would take a stockholder rebellion which is harder to accomplish.
Rebranding the Cracker Barrels of the world means destroying them. Soon, there would be no place for their typical customers to meet up in which they felt at home.
That is, as you say, quite significant. It amounts to - one by one - removing cultures people identify with and replacing them with elite prescriptions for culture. In other words, it is a move toward a much more authoritarian society.
Those who tolerate these top-down deaf-to-the-customer rebrandings effectively support both the individual instance AND the overall direction.
Yes, it more about denying the identity of the brand to a demographic they hate -- frat culture with Bud Light and sourthern white Christians with Cracker Barrel. They want to erase the demographic and its cultural signifiers.
Fortunately, they are not government. They must make money to stay in business; they can't seize it. Those why care about their cultural icons should know what to do next. Hit them in the wallet, as was done in this case. If that doesn't work, in a free society, another brand will arise to support the identity.
Labeling Cracker Barrel as "a decidedly down-class brand" is elitist and ignorant. Many people drive the interstate highway system on a regular basis. Sometimes they want a sit-down meal with a friendly server. Other than Waffle House, no other chain has a national footprint along the highways. Aside from its downscale attributes, Cracker Barrel offers a large menu, quality food, and reasonable prices. The retro candy store is a bonus. May you dine at Cracker Barrel one time in your life.
I opened the comments to see if anyone else noticed Chris’s comment. After growing up in a Marxist family, Chris had his conservative awakening. But I often notice these kinds of comments where it seems like this part of him hasn’t been redeemed yet - the part that still looks down on people who aren’t as smart, educated, or wealthy as he is. Every leftist I knew in Seattle had this character flaw.
I agree with you on the elitist sentiment, it was a bit snobby of him to say that.
I’ve only eaten at Cracker Barrel once this past decade, but lots of what I’ve read suggests that the quality of their food has gone downhill in a major way since COVID. The restaurant apparently microwaves premade food much more than it cooks anything fresh.
I’m pretty much on Rufo’s side with these cultural issues, but I’ve spent the past 18 months overseas and I’m astounded how wholesome and fresh these foreign food systems are. Ours is horribly industrialized, the ingredients read like a science experiment. We should care less about a clumsy rebranding and much more about the substance of what we eat.
It's a victory of a kind, but as far as I've heard, no one at Cracker Barrel got fired for this expensive mistake. Until the people who are making these decisions understand that there are several personal consequences for taking brands woke, this sort of thing will keep happening. And until there is a change in personnel, I have no reason to trust the people in charge to do the right thing.
Agree 💯 That's why no bud lite or anything to with Procter and Gamble. Add Kellogg to that list. Until they change the ceo and the woke board then the purge has not gone far enough.
But, what is it about "woke" that is appealing? Can those who are pro woke really be sheep who don't understand that getting rid of the Cracker Barrel logo deprives one of a culture? Isn't it about communication? Here's an example - I was against the US flag as a symbol when I was 21 for various reasons that could now be considered "woke". My father reminded me that he had fought for that flag in WWII and that my disprespect of the flag hurt him. In time, about 6 months, I came to understand his point of view and have since spoken to a great number of folks in the military and the police and better understand their perspective. I am supportive of the flag and of the military. Cannot the folks who wanted to rebrand Cracker Barrel look at the folks who go to Cracker Barrel and see that they are of a conservative ilk and that is ok? We can all live together. Or, as many of my classmates with what I believe is TDS, say - they don't have time for the conservative anymore. The conservative is just wrong.
So, when will conservatives stand up and refuse to go to Disneyworld/Disneyland? The parks are the only profitable area in the company and they are subsidizing all of the woke movies/TV shows that continue to bleed money because no one wants to watch them!
It would only take ONE summer of plummeting attendance to force Disney back to what it used to be... a fun, clean, affordable, family friendly park, full of magic and memories!
Thank you for pointing that out. I’ve been wishing for a Disney boycott forever. Conservative folks continuing to attend the Parks makes zero sense to me. Why would you support their garbage agenda?
The board was sold a bill of goods by a woke ideological asshole (pardon the language, but the description is accurate). Corporate boards (I have served on one) are at best "custodians." A board never really starts or runs a business. They are at best part time, temporary overseers... and when doing their job right, represent shareholders, who are interested in share value, and income, and future growth.
The board is not an entrepreneur. Boards generally do not found anything, or keep anything running, nor do they manage.
In this case, they forgot what the brand was, and hired someone who did not care what the brand was or what the customer base was.
The board is there to supervise and advise management. They generally approve the CEO. Can’t imagine what this board was thinking. Perhaps they were hoping for a younger demographic leader would improve their image but not lose their older, conservative, family oriented base. But I suspect even among the younger crowd family still matters. Wonder what their chosen CEO will do now?
Need to stop 600k Chinese students ,recently had chinese cancer researcher and navy soldier giving secrets to CCP, and get rid of 66mil visa overstays.
Trump is throwing it out there to see how the public responds. If he gets the push back he expects he will end it. You gotta think like him which is hard for most people today.
I personally think their real goal was to destroy Cracker Barrel from the start. The left has been destroying everything good in this country for decades.
That is just silly. CB's two largest shareholders are Blackrock and Vanguard, two massive institutional investors. They are not in the habit of wanting to lose money. Don't assume that those who adopt values you do not like are trying to destroy yours.
The CEO and Board were looking for ways to increase revenues. That, and reducing costs, is what gets shareholders excited. Turns out, however, this CEO and whatever "consultant" pitched these changes did not understand the existing retail base. Kinda BudLight-ish failure, though in BudLight's case it was genuine sanctimony and snobbery by the CMO. Here it seems to be plain old not reading the room - mainly because the CEO probably sits in NYC and has never been to a Crack Barrel or tried to understand what makes people eat there.
This is the way. Vote with your wallets. Stop giving money to institutions that hate you.
Yes. Feed yourself not those who despise you. Tyrus was a riot about this last night. Lets hope the Liz Warren choir doesn't show up with a woke banjo player at a CB store at a rest stop near you.
Yep. Shove it right back up their prideful *sses! Don't spend your money there either.
There’s no place for DEI in marketing nor education. The US government has had its issues w DEI and lost all respect from the general public. Once the Bud Lite debacle was exposed, the marketers should have done their homework.
Mary Lou, wiser words were never spoken. It looks to me that DEI can more easily be deleted from corporate board rooms than it will be to rid it from educational institutions. The teachers unions have imbedded that nonsense in grade school curricula
for decades as have the universities. When threatened with loss of federal funds they appear to get religion but will always attempt work arounds. Wink! Wink! It will be a longer slog re progressive educational institutions and unions and will depend pretty much on conservatives continuing to be elected in DC. Let us fervently hope that obtains.
Sadly yes...there's no economic leverage against the horrible teachers' unions. But more of how they operate --as large financial supporters of woke and liberal policies while not caring about the children --is becoming public information. Hopefully the days of teachers unions are numbered.
POTUS and Congress need to secure law that charter schools should be 100% legal in all 50 states just like public schools are
Absolutely right there with you. I've been involved with education for many years and the best way to improve public education is by having Charter Schools. It's a big hill to climb to beat the teachers unions opposition. A good unintended consequence of Charter Schools and the money following the kids might be stripping the unions of their much to powerful lobbying
What if the marketers have done their homework?
Cracker Barrel just received millions of dollars in free publicity.
I'd never heard of Cracker Barrel before last week. Today it's a nationwide brand.
I'm not claiming this is what happened with this issue, but sometimes brands do pull stunts on purpose.
Like Jerry said, getting this stuff out of the educational institutions is the real problem.. that's where it spawns, and then creates "woke" leaders who want to then go out on the mission field and propagate their religion, tanking companies along the way because they are social justice warriors for the cause. The people who just sway with it will sway back when there is pressure, like Bud Light, or any of these corporations.. but the real problem is the universities, teachers unions, and true believers who've decided this is their hill to die on.
It used to be that these PR marketing missteps could be recovered from, e.g., New Coke.
In today's politicized environment, I'm not sure there's a full recovery possible. The public becomes aware of not just the original misstep, but all the other missteps and woke posturing that happened earlier that they weren't aware of. These things become a way for customers to realize they are not respected, and in fact are detested by the people who want their business.
Mistakes are forgivable. Betrayals are not.
The thing is, with New Coke, that was an actual attempt by a marketing department to revitalize a brand that was suffering from what they thought was customer tiredness with their core product. Hence the rebranding and reflavoring /reflavoring.
These DEI corporate "refreshes" are not really anything like the New Coke debacle. They are truly an attempt at CULTURAL reformulating. They've convinced themselves that this is the right move for the brand and that it will make them money by currying favor with the culture, and at the same time are convinced also that the move is integral to their mission and values.
The only problem is, these mind-numbed Marxist CEOs and CFOs and marketing managers live in a bubble. They were educated in the bubble and they continue to operate as if everyone else is in that bubble with them. They look at products and brands like Tractor Supply and John Deere and Cracker Barrel and Target, and Bud Light and think, "I know! We should completely alienate a huge percentage of our historic customer base!" What's particularly weird to me is that, they already disdain these brands, because they view them as even Rufo here has described them, as somehow beneath their dignity. They have to know that their customer bases are not generally "progressive," and so they're not going to make a lot of money by alienating them. Yet they continue to forge ahead. That makes me view them as wreckers. They are cultural wrecking balls. They get paid regardless of the outcome. That is the nature of the executive suite. That's why the term "golden parachute" exists. That, and some combination of short selling is almost bound to be in the offing In these instances. How else are they going to make money by doing such seemingly stupid things? These sons of b****** are ripe for RICO investigation.
I truly think that progressive liberalism is a religion and they feel it is their great commission to spread this ideology on these conservative brands. They target these brands specifically that are ripe for this kind of indoctrination. Brands that aren’t doing as well as previously. A board of directors see these young minds that may be able to improve performance. Fortunately in corporate America when there is backlash the board of directors can remove these religious zealots. The bigger problem is with a company like Disney where the board is made up of these zealots itself it would take a stockholder rebellion which is harder to accomplish.
I can't find anything wrong with what you've said here. Not. One. Thing.
so true!
Rebranding the Cracker Barrels of the world means destroying them. Soon, there would be no place for their typical customers to meet up in which they felt at home.
That is, as you say, quite significant. It amounts to - one by one - removing cultures people identify with and replacing them with elite prescriptions for culture. In other words, it is a move toward a much more authoritarian society.
Those who tolerate these top-down deaf-to-the-customer rebrandings effectively support both the individual instance AND the overall direction.
Yes, it more about denying the identity of the brand to a demographic they hate -- frat culture with Bud Light and sourthern white Christians with Cracker Barrel. They want to erase the demographic and its cultural signifiers.
Fortunately, they are not government. They must make money to stay in business; they can't seize it. Those why care about their cultural icons should know what to do next. Hit them in the wallet, as was done in this case. If that doesn't work, in a free society, another brand will arise to support the identity.
Labeling Cracker Barrel as "a decidedly down-class brand" is elitist and ignorant. Many people drive the interstate highway system on a regular basis. Sometimes they want a sit-down meal with a friendly server. Other than Waffle House, no other chain has a national footprint along the highways. Aside from its downscale attributes, Cracker Barrel offers a large menu, quality food, and reasonable prices. The retro candy store is a bonus. May you dine at Cracker Barrel one time in your life.
I opened the comments to see if anyone else noticed Chris’s comment. After growing up in a Marxist family, Chris had his conservative awakening. But I often notice these kinds of comments where it seems like this part of him hasn’t been redeemed yet - the part that still looks down on people who aren’t as smart, educated, or wealthy as he is. Every leftist I knew in Seattle had this character flaw.
I agree with you on the elitist sentiment, it was a bit snobby of him to say that.
I’ve only eaten at Cracker Barrel once this past decade, but lots of what I’ve read suggests that the quality of their food has gone downhill in a major way since COVID. The restaurant apparently microwaves premade food much more than it cooks anything fresh.
I’m pretty much on Rufo’s side with these cultural issues, but I’ve spent the past 18 months overseas and I’m astounded how wholesome and fresh these foreign food systems are. Ours is horribly industrialized, the ingredients read like a science experiment. We should care less about a clumsy rebranding and much more about the substance of what we eat.
I stop at Bob Evans every time I can.
It's a victory of a kind, but as far as I've heard, no one at Cracker Barrel got fired for this expensive mistake. Until the people who are making these decisions understand that there are several personal consequences for taking brands woke, this sort of thing will keep happening. And until there is a change in personnel, I have no reason to trust the people in charge to do the right thing.
Agree 💯 That's why no bud lite or anything to with Procter and Gamble. Add Kellogg to that list. Until they change the ceo and the woke board then the purge has not gone far enough.
But, what is it about "woke" that is appealing? Can those who are pro woke really be sheep who don't understand that getting rid of the Cracker Barrel logo deprives one of a culture? Isn't it about communication? Here's an example - I was against the US flag as a symbol when I was 21 for various reasons that could now be considered "woke". My father reminded me that he had fought for that flag in WWII and that my disprespect of the flag hurt him. In time, about 6 months, I came to understand his point of view and have since spoken to a great number of folks in the military and the police and better understand their perspective. I am supportive of the flag and of the military. Cannot the folks who wanted to rebrand Cracker Barrel look at the folks who go to Cracker Barrel and see that they are of a conservative ilk and that is ok? We can all live together. Or, as many of my classmates with what I believe is TDS, say - they don't have time for the conservative anymore. The conservative is just wrong.
Use your purchasing power to get the message over.
So, when will conservatives stand up and refuse to go to Disneyworld/Disneyland? The parks are the only profitable area in the company and they are subsidizing all of the woke movies/TV shows that continue to bleed money because no one wants to watch them!
It would only take ONE summer of plummeting attendance to force Disney back to what it used to be... a fun, clean, affordable, family friendly park, full of magic and memories!
Thank you for pointing that out. I’ve been wishing for a Disney boycott forever. Conservative folks continuing to attend the Parks makes zero sense to me. Why would you support their garbage agenda?
YES
The board was sold a bill of goods by a woke ideological asshole (pardon the language, but the description is accurate). Corporate boards (I have served on one) are at best "custodians." A board never really starts or runs a business. They are at best part time, temporary overseers... and when doing their job right, represent shareholders, who are interested in share value, and income, and future growth.
The board is not an entrepreneur. Boards generally do not found anything, or keep anything running, nor do they manage.
In this case, they forgot what the brand was, and hired someone who did not care what the brand was or what the customer base was.
Good luck with that.
The board is there to supervise and advise management. They generally approve the CEO. Can’t imagine what this board was thinking. Perhaps they were hoping for a younger demographic leader would improve their image but not lose their older, conservative, family oriented base. But I suspect even among the younger crowd family still matters. Wonder what their chosen CEO will do now?
Amen! The consumer has power!!
Need to stop 600k Chinese students ,recently had chinese cancer researcher and navy soldier giving secrets to CCP, and get rid of 66mil visa overstays.
Trump is throwing it out there to see how the public responds. If he gets the push back he expects he will end it. You gotta think like him which is hard for most people today.
I hope you're right. We cannot afford to flood our country with potential spies.
I couldn't agree more.
Target has already had its turn.
yes, but they still have not learned their lesson. Their downward fall continues. CEO is most recent casualty.
Yes :)
"ideological capture"--you've named the threat. thx
The company had plans to invest $700 MILLION on this rebrand campaign. Unforgiveable waste of shareholder money. CEO should be fired.
I personally think their real goal was to destroy Cracker Barrel from the start. The left has been destroying everything good in this country for decades.
That is just silly. CB's two largest shareholders are Blackrock and Vanguard, two massive institutional investors. They are not in the habit of wanting to lose money. Don't assume that those who adopt values you do not like are trying to destroy yours.
The CEO and Board were looking for ways to increase revenues. That, and reducing costs, is what gets shareholders excited. Turns out, however, this CEO and whatever "consultant" pitched these changes did not understand the existing retail base. Kinda BudLight-ish failure, though in BudLight's case it was genuine sanctimony and snobbery by the CMO. Here it seems to be plain old not reading the room - mainly because the CEO probably sits in NYC and has never been to a Crack Barrel or tried to understand what makes people eat there.
Use of purchasing power is very important