The reaction has been absurd, but their new logo was definitely awful.
I don’t think that the old logo is great either, and the update did improve on technical aspects. You don’t want to have all that small text, for example. And generally, simpler logos are preferable.
But…their shtick is a rustic feel. Whatever you can say about the original logo, it did evoke that. I have a hard time seeing the new one doing that.
EDIT: I also think that this compares favorably to another controversial recent rebrand: Musk rebranding Twitter, which was generally seen as not a good idea; Twitter already had a strong brand identity. People weren’t happy and Musk went right ahead with it regardless. At Cracker Barrel, the initial response was “calm down, it’ll be okay”, but they were willing to second-guess themselves, even though I expect that there were people there who were invested in the rebrand.
EDIT2: They’d also done smaller, more incremental changes to the logo in the past, because the “Old Country Store” text had had its typeface changed at some point in the past.
EDIT3: Here’s a more-comprehensive history:
https://dwglogo.com/cracker-barrel-logo/
I do find it amusing that the “classic” logo everyone is pining for is from the “ancient” year of 1997…
Tbf as weird as it sounds, ‘97 is vintage now
I hate you for pointing that out.
Counts on hands… Oh yeah, it’s over 10 years now isn’t it?
I think there’s a mistake, other sources say 1977 instead of 1997…
On the long drive to and from vacation last week I noticed the 2024-25 picture used a lot and I thought wait they already have a version without the other stuff and it looks fine so why the hell are they changing it again when its perfectly fine the way it is? My biggest complaint of the newest one was just that it featured no border. It already looked weird, but without that border, it just didn’t work at all.
According to another site, the logo was 1977, not 1997. Which tracks with another article mentioning a marketing person coming up with the design in the 70s
Who gives a fuck? Let’s focus on the fascist takeover happening in every city in the country, and the billionaires almost completely winning the war on the populace.
Jesus, we’re allowed to think about other things every so often, it doesn’t have to be US politics 24/7
I mean, the headline literally talks about conservative snowflakes, it’s kind of related
Kinda wish the public had a similar outrage when Fruit of the Loom modernized their logo in 2000, lol
I’m more upset about Mr Pringle.
Lost not only his hair, but the twinkle in his eye, poor chap.
How was it awful?
Could you tell me what the heck this yellow blob shape is supposed to be?
From a purely graphic design perspective, the classic logo is too busy and doesn’t scale well. The only thing it has going for it is the weirdness of the shape and the distinct color combination. It’s technically a really bad logo. You may not prefer the new logo but, technically, it’s a whole lot better. It’s far more adaptable to newer platforms while stilling being recognizable. Now, as far as being an effective representation of the brand and if that’s a corporate concern, I don’t know that I can comment on that.
In another post about this, someone posted a bunch of other fast food logos, and they all looked very much the same, especially in silhouette. They’re all just a same-y blend of mediocrity, whereas the existing logo was at least unique.
McDonald’s probably has the best and most distinctive logo out of anyone.
Who cares
The yellow blob is a pinto bean. :)
I thought it was some splooge.
The barrel ain’t just full of crackers
Yellow blob is obviously a speech bubble.
Its not a speech bubble, its what the awful food will look like coming out on the other end of the tunnel
It’s somebody who sees the white guy and a barrel and said them two together.
100%, right here.
It was fine, Jesus Christ
I’ve never seen people freak out so hard over a LOGO change. Jesus, it’s not like they changed the typeface to Comic Sans or Papyrus or some shit!
Because everything in the United States has been turned into “us vs them” crap.
Bunch of snowflakes wanting their safe space
Jaguar cars: am I a joke to you?
Jaguar was less about the logo and more about that whole marketing campaign. It was like they were doing a cologne commercial and left out the car completely. The logo change was the least of it.
When we did finally see the car, it looked like an AI generated concept, not an actual car. :(
It was really shit rebrand though
Nothing wrong with Comic Sans. It’s highly readable for many people.
Thank god! Now can we get back to the important issues? How’s that WAR ON CHRISTMAS going?
I just want people to start complaining about “x-mas” again so I can explain very slowly what the Greek letter Chi is.
Good luck with that. The explaining part, I mean.
I’ve had xtians hound me on various forums for using their own abbreviation, LOL. Even after explaining it to them, they’d still get worked up into a poutrage, deny what I told them, which was obviously true, and, at least on Denver Post forums, run to the mods to try to get me banned and/or my posts taken down.
The war on Christmas CANNOT END until Christmas ceases its illegal occupation of November.
We are once again calling on the Claus regime to return to their side of the borders outlined in the Black Friday agreement.
November? I think you forgot to include September and October.
So the war on Christmas is odd on a theological and economic level. The secular (pagan?) Side is driven by corporations not the woke left. A fact often ignored by the evangelical right.
So what solution do they even want? A commercial with Jesus on the cross saying he thirts and having a Roman soldier pass him a chilled and refreshing coca cola?
Maybe a nativity where one of the wisemen is like and we got something for Joseph too and hand him a power saw?
Wtf
It started because Starbucks had a disposable cup without the words Christmas on it. It was a generic Holiday cup they used through Nov-early Jan. Suddenly we are under attack! Very stupid.
I think the anger over saying ‘happy holidays’ instead of ‘merry christmas’ predated that, because christians have found a way to get outraged over everything for a looong time. I was pretty happy just this week that dobson died, because focus on the family underpinned a lot of those sentiments that passed through the american christian sects.
I thirt
I’ve already fired my first salvo. By now I would have had at least three or four gifts already purchased and ready for the Christmas season. I haven’t even bothered. And I won’t. It’s going to be a lean Christmas and it’s going to hurt the capitalist assholes who are fucking up our country.
Was it really conservative backlash? I don’t think anyone liked it, lol.
Non-conservatives give a shit about cracker barrel?
I gotta meet up with the old people in my family somewhere. I’m not having them in my house are you crazy
Have you tried literally anywhere else? Every few years my wife convinces me to try it again and it’s always the worst. Are there really no local breakfast places around?
Some people out there are really reluctant to branch out and try anything different. There’s a million places around me selling the same food but better, but some people just want to go to cracker barrel.
Old people especially, but also some people with, for example, autism, ARFID, etc. can be really picky about where they’ll eat, and sometimes it’s just not worth the aggravation of trying to get them to try something new.
Hell, I have some friends who aren’t even particularly picky who can be reluctant to try out new places. Restaurants aren’t cheap, I can understand being reluctant to spend money on food you’re not sure you’re going to like.
Restaurants aren’t cheap, I can understand being reluctant to spend money on food you’re not sure you’re going to like.
That and sometimes you have to go to the same restaurant a few times until you find the dishes that are good there…
Fortunately, I’ve got a few good diners to choose from
I don’t know. I don’t eat there often, but pretty much everything they make is good. I can’t even think of another place that makes chicken and dumplings… For that style of food, I would always take a higher end one off restaurant in the Carolina. But for something ubiquitous, it is pretty much the only option, and it isn’t as expensive as Shatley Springs or something.
Honestly, I would have tried it again more recently if it weren’t for the fact that they don’t seem to have any interest in accommodating vegetarians at all. Also, I think a few of them closed in Denver area.
LOL, that’s been the only reason I’ve ever set foot in one. People who were very much older in my extended family liked the place…and so for whatever reason, I kind of thought of the place like Grange halls - something the older bunch have an affinity for, but I don’t quite understand how it fits into my life in the here and now. :/
Uhhh, there’s a shit ton of Cracker Barrels in NY, going to Cracker Barrel for family meet ups and shit was a staple in my family and made precious childhood memories for me, and we’re black as hell. Plenty of non conservatives love CB. There’s a shit ton black people makes jokes online rn about missing the “segregation” vibes of CB.
I will never forget their Coca-Cola fudge cake.
I’m a Leftist Progressive living in North Carolina, and I like Cracker Barrel
Nope
People talked about here a lot, I had never even heard of it before
I think I went there twice before they shut down here. I mean, it wasn’t AWFUL. I’d rather eat at a local place though.
https://www.pignpancake.com/our-story.html
Just from a design perspective, there was too much wasted space
Yes. It was.
I only learned about it when I saw headlines about the backlash that was costing them millions.
My first reaction after figuring out it was not the Onion was…are they still in business? I honestly didn’t know they were still operating. I looked on the map in the Denver area and the one I thought was in Littleton/Lakewood area either is a figment of my imagination, or they closed.
The news sells better and is more engaging when you put it is conservative backslash instead of just overall negative reaction
Especially on this platform
The general reaction may have been negative, but the conservatives went unhinged accusing the new logo of being “woke”
[Other Party]’s general population is totally upset about something [Our Party] thinks is good or even doesn’t give a fuck about!
We must be reactionary over the most trivial stupid shit and bicker and deflect from [List of Enormous Issues and Catastrophes], and create a new issue for everyone to point fingers about!
/s
Personally, I think it looks terrible and I’m a die-hard lefty/socialist/liberal whatever you wanna call me. I don’t eat there and don’t give a fuck about them, but this media attention over this “controversy” has pushed me to form an opinion on something I wouldn’t otherwise care about — and honestly if conservatives hate it, then fuck, I agree with them for once because it looks fuckin’ soulless and terrible lol.
I’m not conservative in the slightest and I thought the redesign was completely ass.
The whole restaurant is complete ass.
Yes, but did you go unhinged calling it “woke”? The logo was a poor fit and I could get behind it, but so many MAGAs losing it over calling a lame logo “woke”…
“woke”
deleted by creator
I will continue to not care at all about it. Release the Epstein files.
No bigger snowflake than a MAGAt.
Called it. They new coke’d that shit.
Just what we needed. Conservatives feeling even more empowered. Goddamnit.
Maybe this success will inspire them to redirect their attention from politics to corporate branding practices.
I wish they would target Netflix and their recent UI update next.
Why? You want the Washington Redskins back
Huh. I guess crackers like representation too.
The new logo did not go over well in some spheres, and on social media, conservative critics accused the restaurant chain of abandoning its traditional values or of being “woke.”
When someone uses the word ‘woke’ as an unironic insult, I’ll probably think it’s stupid, but at least I understand what they’re saying. Until now, that is. What the fuck is “woke” supposed to mean in this context? What makes this bland logo change “woke”?
There was a man on the old logo and no man on the new logo. Totally woke.
What the fuck is “woke” supposed to mean in this context? What makes this bland logo change “woke”?
Woke is anything that I don’t like.
They had some lgbt hires and dei stuff a few years ago and the ceo and is a woman so the new logo is clearly the end result of all that woke (reading: anything not catering to straight white males) nonsense
Conservative backlash? Are we really putting all the apparent public distaste for the rebrand on the conservatives? I personally haven’t seen any conservatives or conservative-coded people complain at all; in fact, I thought the “outcry” (more like grumbling imo) was bipartisan and something that progressives and conservatives both disliked.
But again, I feel as though in a reaching effort to make conservatives look even worse than they already do, many democrats and associated talking heads are forcing this story that conservatives are so pissed about it.
I’m left as hell and voted for Harris so I hope that gives some perspective when I say that I also think the logo and overall brand look like tasteless, soulless corporate slop. It’s what all corps have done and will always do, simplify and dilute any individuality to appeal to the broadest possible market possible, and we shouldn’t applaud that.
IDGAF about Cracker Barrel and never eat there, and were it not for media pundits accusing conservatives of being pissed, I don’t think I ever would’ve known. That said, if it’s gonna be pushed in my face for brand awareness and marketing, then yea, it looks like shit and I want to eat there even less than before.
Congrats everyone, you’re falling for engagement bait and doing the advertising for Cracker Barrel for free.
Don’t you know there are only two opinions in the world? Conservative and Liberal. Everything is neatly sorted into those two opinions. All questions, physical items, debates, people, opinions, foods, roller coasters, pickles, etc. All of it is Either Conservative or Liberal. Democrat or Republican. Whig or …torry? I dont know. I mean, how could a rational human like fried chicken, grits, antiques, etching style line art, biscuits and old-fashioned candy without also hating Mexicans and hating killing babies?
Yeah I don’t think it’s actually a Republican thing. Maybe their locations just overlap with Republican areas?
Personally I think the new logo is dumb, but I’ve also never even seen a Cracker Barrel in real life, let alone patronized one. I’m not even sure what their business is. Retail? Restaurant?
It was both a retail store and restaurant. Both sections were “Southern Hospitality” themed minus any confederate or hateful shit. Think biscuits and gravy, maybe some bluegrass, farmin’.
I went a decent amount with my fam as a child and I always found it cozy and interesting. Never been as an adult.
Complained about the redesign, isn’t Conservative How dare you insult me like this? I am an American and I will not stand for being called a Nazi.
