\n<\/p>\n
Cracker Barrel\u2019s CEO, Julie Masino, is stepping down, the restaurant announced on Monday, nearly a year after the company was swept into a political maelstrom over proposed modernizations to its branding.<\/p>\n
Critics on social media denounced the Tennessee-based rustic restaurant chain as \u201cwoke\u201d as well as \u201csterile and soulless\u201d after it unveiled an updated logo that removed Uncle Herschel, the overall-clad man leaning against a barrel in the restaurant\u2019s original logo, last August. Donald Trump weighed in on the updates soon after, posting: \u201cWTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel?!\u201d and demanding on social media that the company \u201cadmit a mistake\u201d.<\/p>\n
The company announced that it would revert back to its old logo soon after the social media reaction exploded. Masino, who has served as the chain\u2019s CEO since 2023, told the rightwing commentator Glenn Beck in December that she felt \u201cfired by America\u201d after the controversy.<\/p>\n
Cracker Barrel\u2019s stock dropped nearly 3% after the announcement of Masino\u2019s departure. The chain\u2019s new CEO, David Deno, will take over on 10 August, and Masino will remain until October to help with the transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cCracker Barrel is a truly iconic American brand, defined by its unique combination of warm country hospitality, timeless appeal, and deep connection with guests across generations,\u201d Deno said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Masino\u2019s departure the latest fallout from social media-fueled backlash against brands accused of appealing to certain political ideals. The Harris Poll found last year that a quarter of Americans have changed their shopping habits to align with their morals, with 50% of Democrats and 41% of Republicans responding that they stopped shopping at stores opposing their political views.<\/p>\n
Some companies have quickly felt the financial strain of these calls to action. In 2023, after Target announced a pride month collection and Bud Light aired an advertisement with a transgender influencer, both companies announced declines in sales. On the other side of the political aisle, Target was pulled as a sponsor from Minneapolis\u2019s annual pride festival last year after it announced it was ending its diversity, equality and inclusion policies.<\/p>\n
Not all of these boycotts have been successful, though \u2013 Christopher Nolan\u2019s The Odyssey saw great success at its global box office debut, despite Elon Musk and other critics castigating the movie\u2019s cast as part of a \u201cwoke\u201d agenda.<\/p>\n
Cracker Barrel has had a history of discriminatory treatment against diners and staff. In 1991, the chain blocked the hiring of LGBTQ+ workers and dismissed 11 staff members, though it later backed down from that policy. In 2004, Cracker Barrel paid $8.7m to settle discrimination allegations from Black customers who said they were denied service and Black employees who said they received more \u201cback of house\u201d assignments compared with their white counterparts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cracker Barrel\u2019s CEO, Julie Masino, is stepping down, the restaurant announced on Monday, nearly a year after the company was swept into a political maelstrom over proposed modernizations to its branding. Critics on social media denounced the Tennessee-based rustic restaurant chain as \u201cwoke\u201d as well as \u201csterile and soulless\u201d after it unveiled an updated logo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[1723,1747,303,3277,10951,10953,6849,1207,1569],"class_list":{"0":"post-51445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-backlash","9":"tag-barrel","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-ceo","12":"tag-cracker","13":"tag-logo","14":"tag-overseeing","15":"tag-step","16":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}