I just want to point out that Cracker Barrel was never an "old country store," and never could have been, because it was conceived as a highway stopoff. Real country stores, by definition, can't be anywhere near the highway.
Personally I like Cracker Barrel for road trips—it’s a phony aesthetic but a cozy one, and the new logo seemed sterile and pointless and there’s something to be said for classic logos (I prefer Budweiser’s old fashioned looking logo to Bud Light that looks too modernistic for beer). The company would have been better off mitigating its sales drop by improving its menu items or adding drive thru, but ultimately it’s not something to get too worked up over. But we live with a totalitarian president now, where every fucking thing is his business, and it’s exhausting and stupid.
I was not in the country during the New Coke controversy but get the idea that the whole backlash was due to publicly touting their new formula rather than quietly changing it. They switched their formula many times in the past without incident (corn syrup wasn’t always a part of it) likely because they just changed it and said “here’s your brown sugary fizz water you gross pigs”. And Americans accepted it!
The past was easier. I was a child. My biggest worry was whether or not the kids at school would like my new Rams jacket or Transformer toy. My biggest decision was what sort of sandwich my mother would make for me to carry in my brown bag or what clothes to wear. There were no adult worries. No adult concerns. Mom and Dad would take care of everything. Somehow food would always be there. Somehow we’d always have a home.
Now I’m dad. Now adult worries plague me. Will I have a job in six months? Would I have a home if I don’t? Could I put food on the table? What if my health gives out? What if the wheel of mass shootings lands on my children’s school? What if there’s an accident? What if? What if? What if?
You know what I stupidly remember about the past today?
I remember standing in line with my father for Star Wars and Star Trek movies for hours. I wish I could still have that pleasure. Wish I could still call him up.
I remember summer nights. They were cooler then. I remember the smell of orange groves from my aunt’s house back when Orange County still grew oranges. I remember fireflies.
Yeah, I won’t lie. I miss the fireflies. I miss the orange groves. The engines of capitalism moved and it seems like something really precious was lost. Nature paved over for chain restaurants and tract houses. Of course I didn’t realize what was lost then.
There will be a last time you see your parent and most of us won’t realize it until they’re gone. There will be a last time someone you love walks into a room or smiles. There will be a last time we laugh. There might be a last tiger or a last redwood tree and the world will be infinitely poorer for their loss.
I guess the ultimate question is: What are you trying to conserve from the past and is it really worth conserving?
Memories of my father are all I have and I carry them with me. There’s a sense of loss, sure, but there’s happiness. Keeping the memory of a good man alive in an indifferent universe? That’s worth it.
Power? Only a fool tries to hold on to power.
Money? You will go into your grave without a cent in your wallet.
Hierarchy? What good does dominance do? If you gain the whole world, you’re still going to die and leave it all behind. Maybe face a deity or deities… who knows?
But fireflies… I do miss the fireflies and the cool summer nights. I wouldn’t mind bringing those back for future generations even if it means a few less Cracker Barrels or lower profits for fossil fuel companies.
I recall the New Coke fiasco... then "Coca-Cola Classic! Red, White, and You!" And the notion of Cracker Barrel being a racial slur is hilarious. Being a white person from Indiana whose relatives love them some Cracker Barrel, it also feels quite accurate.
The backlash to this logo change tells us two things. First that advertising is far too persuasive and pervasive in our lives (hence those pop up ads). It also tells us just WHO they market to.
Cracker Barrel’s stores (or a funny my husband and I saw “Honky Bucket”-we laughed our asses off at that one) is mainly in red states whereas Whole Foods is mainly in blue states, as an example.
People get quite attached to an ideology of a simpler time wholly created by a marketing strategy.
Imagine a boot smashing on your face for eternity. That's our future with these constant nonsensical culture wars. And the "best" thing is that sometimes they can be used as a vehicle to torment vulnerable minorities (as this is the will of the unreconstructed).
Of course a major component of these culture wars is a rightwing media human centipede, that's funded by millionaire and billionaire pocket change. So no matter what stupid package of outrage is constructed, there's influencers to spread it, rightwing propaganda networks to discuss it and spread it further, and then finally legitimization via the so-called MSM.
I always figured Don Draper had something to do with the whole “New Coke” thing. Wasn’t that his first NYC account after leaving the California ashram?
It's suggested that Draper came up with the "Like to Buy the World a Coke" ad. I actually think Draper was too canny to have been behind the New Coke marketing, which leaned in on "change." His work on MAD MEN consistently showed that he understood the impact of nostalgia and what it meant to sell an "image."
Really!!! I have never been to a Cracker Barrel, but where I grew up in Virginia, the only ham was proper salty chewy Smithfield Ham. The big-time department stores with food halls (how I miss them) even sold it. Now I can only find it in chips for soup (which is a good thing), but I miss a good ham sandwich. Prosciutto is the only sliced ham that even comes close, but it's not the same. Alas, nostalgia is a hell of a drug few of us can resist.
Yes, mam. It's the only reason I ever go to Cracker Barrel.
Country ham is not exactly "health food," but DANG is it good. Our Publix sells it in "biscuit slices," which I keep on hand for soups and the occasional weekend breakfast.
Wait until you read about the Great American Freak-out when John Lennon claimed (correctly) that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Americans are stupid because they focus on stupid things. That is why TACO was elected - twice!
There’s a Cracker Barrel on a highway near me. The road sign already has the new logo. I wonder how long it will take them to change it back
I just want to point out that Cracker Barrel was never an "old country store," and never could have been, because it was conceived as a highway stopoff. Real country stores, by definition, can't be anywhere near the highway.
Isn't the right wing getting all up in arms over the Cracker Barrel logo kind of like their own version of DEI?
Personally I like Cracker Barrel for road trips—it’s a phony aesthetic but a cozy one, and the new logo seemed sterile and pointless and there’s something to be said for classic logos (I prefer Budweiser’s old fashioned looking logo to Bud Light that looks too modernistic for beer). The company would have been better off mitigating its sales drop by improving its menu items or adding drive thru, but ultimately it’s not something to get too worked up over. But we live with a totalitarian president now, where every fucking thing is his business, and it’s exhausting and stupid.
I was not in the country during the New Coke controversy but get the idea that the whole backlash was due to publicly touting their new formula rather than quietly changing it. They switched their formula many times in the past without incident (corn syrup wasn’t always a part of it) likely because they just changed it and said “here’s your brown sugary fizz water you gross pigs”. And Americans accepted it!
‘... they didn’t replace the “Old Timer” with a drag queen...’
See, that just seems a missed opportunity to me.
The past was easier. I was a child. My biggest worry was whether or not the kids at school would like my new Rams jacket or Transformer toy. My biggest decision was what sort of sandwich my mother would make for me to carry in my brown bag or what clothes to wear. There were no adult worries. No adult concerns. Mom and Dad would take care of everything. Somehow food would always be there. Somehow we’d always have a home.
Now I’m dad. Now adult worries plague me. Will I have a job in six months? Would I have a home if I don’t? Could I put food on the table? What if my health gives out? What if the wheel of mass shootings lands on my children’s school? What if there’s an accident? What if? What if? What if?
You know what I stupidly remember about the past today?
I remember standing in line with my father for Star Wars and Star Trek movies for hours. I wish I could still have that pleasure. Wish I could still call him up.
I remember summer nights. They were cooler then. I remember the smell of orange groves from my aunt’s house back when Orange County still grew oranges. I remember fireflies.
Yeah, I won’t lie. I miss the fireflies. I miss the orange groves. The engines of capitalism moved and it seems like something really precious was lost. Nature paved over for chain restaurants and tract houses. Of course I didn’t realize what was lost then.
There will be a last time you see your parent and most of us won’t realize it until they’re gone. There will be a last time someone you love walks into a room or smiles. There will be a last time we laugh. There might be a last tiger or a last redwood tree and the world will be infinitely poorer for their loss.
I guess the ultimate question is: What are you trying to conserve from the past and is it really worth conserving?
Memories of my father are all I have and I carry them with me. There’s a sense of loss, sure, but there’s happiness. Keeping the memory of a good man alive in an indifferent universe? That’s worth it.
Power? Only a fool tries to hold on to power.
Money? You will go into your grave without a cent in your wallet.
Hierarchy? What good does dominance do? If you gain the whole world, you’re still going to die and leave it all behind. Maybe face a deity or deities… who knows?
But fireflies… I do miss the fireflies and the cool summer nights. I wouldn’t mind bringing those back for future generations even if it means a few less Cracker Barrels or lower profits for fossil fuel companies.
Beautifully said!
I recall the New Coke fiasco... then "Coca-Cola Classic! Red, White, and You!" And the notion of Cracker Barrel being a racial slur is hilarious. Being a white person from Indiana whose relatives love them some Cracker Barrel, it also feels quite accurate.
Cracker Barrel should have done a little extortion racket
"If you want to keep the old logo, then prove it by bringing business our way to the tune of 5% increase each quarter
The backlash to this logo change tells us two things. First that advertising is far too persuasive and pervasive in our lives (hence those pop up ads). It also tells us just WHO they market to.
Cracker Barrel’s stores (or a funny my husband and I saw “Honky Bucket”-we laughed our asses off at that one) is mainly in red states whereas Whole Foods is mainly in blue states, as an example.
People get quite attached to an ideology of a simpler time wholly created by a marketing strategy.
It can also point to why people seem so cultish.
Is this the new opiate of the masses?
They should have gone all in with the current Nazi administration:
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/003/124/190/413.jpg
Imagine a boot smashing on your face for eternity. That's our future with these constant nonsensical culture wars. And the "best" thing is that sometimes they can be used as a vehicle to torment vulnerable minorities (as this is the will of the unreconstructed).
Of course a major component of these culture wars is a rightwing media human centipede, that's funded by millionaire and billionaire pocket change. So no matter what stupid package of outrage is constructed, there's influencers to spread it, rightwing propaganda networks to discuss it and spread it further, and then finally legitimization via the so-called MSM.
I always figured Don Draper had something to do with the whole “New Coke” thing. Wasn’t that his first NYC account after leaving the California ashram?
It's suggested that Draper came up with the "Like to Buy the World a Coke" ad. I actually think Draper was too canny to have been behind the New Coke marketing, which leaned in on "change." His work on MAD MEN consistently showed that he understood the impact of nostalgia and what it meant to sell an "image."
Ha ha!
Cracker Barrel is basically the middle class' Waffle House.
"but the right-wing backlash to Cracker Barrel’s new logo was absolutely deranged. There is nothing “woke” about the new logo"
Woke to them has always meant "Something or someone I don't like!"
It's the new "Marxist"
Cracker Barrel's ONLY faux-folksy value is the fact they still serve country ham.
I reckon you’ve never had their biscuits and gravy.
Thank God the MAGATs can go back to complaining about Mexicans, and I’ll never have to hear the words “Cracker Barrel” again!
I, on the other hand, am all for baiting them with the stupidest possible "scandals" and triggering their performative bullshit.
Lord knows, they do the same to us Americans daily.
Really!!! I have never been to a Cracker Barrel, but where I grew up in Virginia, the only ham was proper salty chewy Smithfield Ham. The big-time department stores with food halls (how I miss them) even sold it. Now I can only find it in chips for soup (which is a good thing), but I miss a good ham sandwich. Prosciutto is the only sliced ham that even comes close, but it's not the same. Alas, nostalgia is a hell of a drug few of us can resist.
Yep. I'm still in VA, adjacent to ham and peanut country
You know, it's a good thing to be able to talk about ham.
It IS!
When I have the time and need a ham fix, I go to Calhoun's in Culpeper.
The nearest ham fix for me is in Wakefield Va. south of Richmond and Hopewell...A place called The Virginia House. Its been there forever. Old school
Oh, I've been there. It sells Edwards VA ham, yes? There is also Kite's in Madison County.
Well, crap, Calhoun's closed last April. I am sad - Mr. Calhoun deserves to retire at 93. I served a Calhoun ham at Thanksgiving for decades. https://www.insidenova.com/culpeper/calhouns-ham-house-and-country-deli-in-culpeper-to-close-after-60-years/article_1ada3449-8900-4a87-8d1a-4c9ca0d11ea5.html.
(:
You got it!
Can confirm on that VA ham. Best used when making red eye gravy.
Yes, mam. It's the only reason I ever go to Cracker Barrel.
Country ham is not exactly "health food," but DANG is it good. Our Publix sells it in "biscuit slices," which I keep on hand for soups and the occasional weekend breakfast.
Wait until you read about the Great American Freak-out when John Lennon claimed (correctly) that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Americans are stupid because they focus on stupid things. That is why TACO was elected - twice!
That’s what caused the burning of Beatles’ records in the Bible Belt.
It's so depressing how right you are.