Over a Barrel? Seeking to Play in the Zeitgeist, Brands Absorb Culture Shocks

Cracker Barrel's new logo gets shot full of holes and scrapped; 'Old Timer' makes return

Update 8/26: After an intense backlash and harsh words from Donald Trump (among others of a conservative bent), Cracker Barrel said it would return to its “Old Timer” logo. Below is our piece from Saturday, mulling what can happen when brands make changes and take chances that go awry.

Every week, it seems, we get a new ad controversy. Of late, it’s been Swatch in China, e.l.f. with Matt Rife, Dunkin’ and American Eagle’s Sydney Sweeney campaign. Different brands, different industries, same old playbook.

They all want to “play in the culture.” And listen, it sounds smart in the pitch deck. It gets nods in the boardroom. And it can work incredibly well. But here’s the thing: Culture isn’t a playground. It’s complicated, contextual and constantly shifting. You can’t just parachute in based on what Meta’s algo tells you, drop a trendy name, grab a comedian with a ton of followers and expect it to land. I mean, you can—but who wants Keno odds … at best?

Heck, even playing it safe can be fraught with peril.

Cracker Barrel largely ignored cultural relevance rather than actively engaging with the zeitgeist. While the results are strong and cohesive, they ultimately missed the mark strategically by prioritizing aesthetics over doing the deeper work of integrating design with cultural insight. (Donald Trump Jr., of all folks, was not amused.)

To reiterate: you must DO THE WORK.

Onto the Swatch controversy. That wasn’t even cultural, per se. That was ignorant and straight up racist. As for e.l.f., on paper they checked all the boxes: disruptive, community-driven, digital-first. But if you’re just running through a ChatGPT-style checklist of what “today’s brand” should look like, you’re not actually marketing. You’re phoning it in. And what happens? Either you look just like everyone else, or you pick someone who makes jokes about domestic violence.

And then there’s Sydney Sweeney and AE. The brand always seemed pretty neutral, middle-of-the-road and accessible. At first I thought they were just ripping off Brooke Shields and Levi’s. Still, they went with a spokesperson who has a political affiliation with a group that’s literally gutting inclusivity in business. The ad implies she’s genetically superior. There were a lot of people touting that in the early 1940s—but that’s a separate issue. So either this was the biggest miss in brand history, or it was intentional. Dunkin’ absorbed flak for similar motifs.

Because choosing a face, theme or newfangled logo for your brand is work. It’s research. It’s rigor. It’s asking the hard questions about whether this is really your audience, and really your story to tell.

Here’s the truth: Culture is hard. Always has been. There’s risk and reward in playing with it.

But trend-chasing is lazy. It can’t be easily automated. Real marketing—real creative—takes digging, questioning, choosing with intent and picking the right time.

The best work polarizes. It sparks conversation. It makes people think. But it doesn’t intentionally harm. It doesn’t marginalize.

When done right., it brings people together. It inspires. And that takes real time, real investment and real work. Today, it takes more work than ever.