Shareholders of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store learned very abruptly last month just how toxic wokeism – what many call the “woke mind virus” – has infected top levels of management, becoming a major liability for the brand and potentially threatening the very existence of the restaurant chain.
CEO Julie Felss Masino’s attempt to strip the beloved American aesthetic from Cracker Barrel’s logo with a soulless rebrand sparked backlash nationwide.
It took less than a week for the restaurant chain to pivot back, and it is yet another marketing blunder for corporate America.
We’re not questioning Masino’s intelligence, but many in corporate America have already learned, after Bud Light nearly destroyed itself a few years ago with an ad campaign featuring a male TikToker pretending to be a woman. The saying goes, “go woke, go broke.”
This brings us to new data from Bloomberg Second Measure on debit and credit cards, showing that Masino’s decision to abandon the restaurant chain’s half-century-old logo – long a symbol of rural Americana and the “old country store” experience – sparked the beginning of a boycott.
According to Second Measure, Cracker Barrel’s declining sales during the political firestorm, which even drew posts from President Trump and fiery commentary from rival chain Steak’ n Shake, “weren’t due to a seasonal or industrywide trend but rather to the logo change.”
The series of events:
Steak’ n Shake…
Logo is a symptom of a bigger problem!
The $700 million remodel is insane! It’s bland, soulless, and an unnecessary waste of money. Instead, use this money to keep prices down to support American families. And while you’re at it, go back to making fresh biscuits every day.… https://t.co/HFGe5G7cqy
— Steak ‘n Shake (@SteaknShake) August 26, 2025
That said, had Cracker Barrel remained defiant and refused to bend the knee, the boycott could have been far more severe and potentially ruined the brand. Even the company’s founder called Masino’s rebrand “crazy.”
The takeaway is that those infected with the woke mind virus in corporate America are becoming massive liabilities to shareholders.
And as for all those college kids with freshly minted woke degrees from the Ivy Leagues, well, good luck.
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