Cracker Barrel is backtracking on its costly nearly $700 million rebrand after widespread backlash

from customers and investors. The overhaul centered on a controversial text-only logo and a minimalist

modern design was criticized as sterile and out of step with the chain's nostalgic image,

following a steep drop in stock value and pressure from an

activist investor, as well as from President Trump, who called for the company to go back to the old

look, Cracker Barrel reinstated its classic Uncle Herschel logo. For more on the implications

of the rebrand and the backlash and the politics at play, we're joined now by Americus Reed, marketing professor

at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. It's great to have you here.

It's great to be here.

So this Cracker Barrel rebrand was met with near universal criticism and backlash.

Was this simply a design misstep or a deeper failure to understand how people connect with that brand?

Well, the answer is actually both. One would think that just changing a picture is not that big of a

deal, but it turns out that with brands, that the logo, the colors, the imagery, the graphics,

over time, they take on more than just the meaning that is associated

with their aesthetic. In other words, Uncle Herschel is not just a picture of an elderly man

leaning against a barrel. And the barrel is not just a barrel. It is a symbol of a lifestyle.

In other words, when you walk into that store, there's a feeling that you get,

right? It's an old country store. There are antiques. There are rocking chairs. There's

apple pie and fantastic pancakes. And so when you walk in there, the entire experience is

subsumed by all of the imagery that goes into what the brand is, the meaning system that the

brand stands for. And as a loyal customer who maybe has been going to cracker barrels for years,

you have that feeling that it connects with who you are. You affiliate with it because it has

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