redstate.com By Chase Spears
Oh, the tale of Cracker Barrel. One could not buy the kind of publicity the brand is getting right now as it rides a wave of viral attention not seen since the Coldplay “cheating couple” saga earlier this year. Analysts have already offered sharp takes on what went wrong: activist investors pushing an agenda, a board asleep at the wheel, and a CEO in over her head. To their work I would add this: Cracker Barrel’s misadventure is not just a corporate stumble. It is a reminder of a universal truth that human organizations naturally drift leftward. Without constant re-grounding, they drift from their founding purpose, and turn against the principles on which they were founded.
The list of corporations and consumer brands that jumped headlong into faddish activism is obscenely long. In just the past year, Bud Light’s implosion and Jaguar’s tone-deaf campaign proved what should have been obvious, that vying for high scores on destructive social score indexes is not a responsible growth strategy. Yet for years, too many executives treated progressive mantras as if they were delivered on engraved tablets from on high. They were deceived by so-called ‘experts’ who preached that millennials would only part with their dollars if a rainbow flag or ‘in this house’ label was slapped on the product or storefront. Consumers were left with little choice but to feel like every shopping trip was an involuntary donation to Bolshevik Revolution 2.0. As the arrogance of all involved collides with reality, we are reminded yet again that pride goes before the fall.
As the tide turns, it’s becoming clear that the myth of woke financial supremacy theory is built on quicksand. Leaders like Robby Starbuck have played a major role in pulling companies back from the brink—Tractor Supply and Pepsi among them. Increasingly, many Fortune 500 firms are remembering that Americans value quality, reliability, and trust more than brand activism. Into this environment of cultural correction marched Cracker Barrel’s current management, apparently believing it financially prudent to make an abrupt turn from the brand character that its predominantly conservative base has loved for decades. The results were predictably disastrous: a now-abandoned attempt to emaciate the beloved and time-tested brand logo, sponsorship of an all-ages “pride” event in Nashville, and a “Front Porch to Pride” initiative that nobody asked for.
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