If the marketing people at Cracker Barrel understood Baudrillard, they would would understood that they're selling semiotics more than middling Southern fare and maybe avoided such a pointless (but hyperreal) freakout.
I think executives decide to rebrand when they want to be seen as doing something but have no ideas on what that should be.
It's just something that's visible, seems easy, and has a process that makes one feel like an executive. It's very comprehensible, with simple, tangible results, which a lot of executives really need.
It's a shame most comments here are superficially focusing on the rebrand when the point of the article is much more interesting. The push for hyper-reality or a simulacrum to provide a sense of belonging and nostalgia is interesting. The article somewhat blames this on the Internet but also calls out how the Nazis employed a similar nostalgia for a (fictional?) simpler time. I wonder if this is feeding a new need since the world started changing more rapidly since industrialization and a technological take-off or if this was always the case.
Agree, the meat of the article is quite interesting. Also worth noting that, IMO, covid boosted the amount of engagement with the simulacrum (there was nothing else to do for many!), and people haven't weaned off of it. Algorithms will gradient-descend you into it very gradually, and you'll convince yourself you're just "looking for the truth."
Personally, I'm trying to cultivate more unmediated experiences as much as possible. The world and people aren't really attuned to this as much...to say nothing of my own inertia! But I do think they are an important component to both finding contentment and a sense of sustainable calm.
* meditation - IMO this gets me close to a headspace where I want to seek out more unmediated things
* practicing musical instruments
* phone calls with people instead of texting
* choosing the mundane versions of errands when time permits (grocery shopping in person instead of ordering via app and picking it up). There's a certain solace in the simplicity of mundane tasks that I need.
Less successful:
* getting outside more. This is pure inertia.
* quitting social media. BlueSky helps here by being much lower volume.
It would have helped if the author had specified the particular instantiation of Cracker Barrel earlier in the article.
From outside the USA it's a name most associated with a brand of American cheddar cheese. A simulacron of cheese seemed intriguing. It took seven paragraphs until he dropped the hint that it's also a shop brand.
"It’s sort of pathetic to reflect that we have so few—maybe no—authentic and unmediated experiences that the thing that now really upsets people is an alteration of a simulation of authenticity."
That controversy has been so funny. Cracker Barrel was never a "general store". It was always a restaurant.
A "general store" is not a restaurant. It's a small retail outlet that sells most of the things a farmer needs.
The "lots of stuff on the walls" thing was popular once, from the Hungry Hunter to Banana Republic to the Hard Rock Cafe. It's kind of over.
In Silicon Valley and vicinity, we can see some real general stores.
San Gregorio CA used to have a real general store, serving a hard to reach agricultural area of San Mateo County. They still have something called that. But it's now a tourist kitsch outlet with live music on weekends.
Half Moon Bay Feed and Fuel is for real. Stuck on a tourist street, they have tourist stuff in the front. Towards the back it's gear and feed for horses, cattle and poultry. They sell live chicks, the people behind the counter all ride horses, and you can pull up out back and have feed loaded. Good collection of shovels, buckets, and horse tack.
Peninsula Feed Store in San Carlos is also for real. They recently had an open box of "superworms" squirming around on the counter for customers to admire and buy. The usual big racks of feed sacks are there, and they deliver. They, too, sell live chicks. Feed prices are OK, shavings are overpriced. Some tools, not many, since there's a Home Depot and a OSH nearby.
Cracker Barrel was never a real general store like that.
> Cracker Barrel was never a "general store". It was always a restaurant. A "general store" is not a restaurant. It's a small retail outlet that sells most of the things a farmer needs.
Yeah but how many restaurants sold real leather bullwhips to kids (in the 90s)?
I think rebranding happens so often because we are all out of lucrative ideas. It's just another tool in the "maybe this will work" pile of things that corporations do.
We have yet to see how AI will actually meaningfully change our lives and culture for profit. With the internet this was fairly obvious...the internet in our pockets at all times even more so.
So what are corporations to do? Offshore, stock buybacks, and rebrands. "Maybe this will work!"
If the marketing people at Cracker Barrel understood Baudrillard, they would would understood that they're selling semiotics more than middling Southern fare and maybe avoided such a pointless (but hyperreal) freakout.
I think executives decide to rebrand when they want to be seen as doing something but have no ideas on what that should be.
It's just something that's visible, seems easy, and has a process that makes one feel like an executive. It's very comprehensible, with simple, tangible results, which a lot of executives really need.
Peter Lynch of Fidelity Investments used to consider rebranding as a sell signal. It's an indicator that a brand has low or even negative value.
I think people are absolutely craving some semblance of sincerity... from anything.
It's a shame most comments here are superficially focusing on the rebrand when the point of the article is much more interesting. The push for hyper-reality or a simulacrum to provide a sense of belonging and nostalgia is interesting. The article somewhat blames this on the Internet but also calls out how the Nazis employed a similar nostalgia for a (fictional?) simpler time. I wonder if this is feeding a new need since the world started changing more rapidly since industrialization and a technological take-off or if this was always the case.
Agree, the meat of the article is quite interesting. Also worth noting that, IMO, covid boosted the amount of engagement with the simulacrum (there was nothing else to do for many!), and people haven't weaned off of it. Algorithms will gradient-descend you into it very gradually, and you'll convince yourself you're just "looking for the truth."
Personally, I'm trying to cultivate more unmediated experiences as much as possible. The world and people aren't really attuned to this as much...to say nothing of my own inertia! But I do think they are an important component to both finding contentment and a sense of sustainable calm.
"Personally, I'm trying to cultivate more unmediated experiences as much as possible."
Do you mind sharing what strategies you've found useful in this regard and what hasn't worked well?
Sure. Things with various degrees of success:
* meditation - IMO this gets me close to a headspace where I want to seek out more unmediated things
* practicing musical instruments
* phone calls with people instead of texting
* choosing the mundane versions of errands when time permits (grocery shopping in person instead of ordering via app and picking it up). There's a certain solace in the simplicity of mundane tasks that I need.
Less successful:
* getting outside more. This is pure inertia.
* quitting social media. BlueSky helps here by being much lower volume.
It would have helped if the author had specified the particular instantiation of Cracker Barrel earlier in the article.
From outside the USA it's a name most associated with a brand of American cheddar cheese. A simulacron of cheese seemed intriguing. It took seven paragraphs until he dropped the hint that it's also a shop brand.
"It’s sort of pathetic to reflect that we have so few—maybe no—authentic and unmediated experiences that the thing that now really upsets people is an alteration of a simulation of authenticity."
It was worth the read for that paragraph alone :)
That controversy has been so funny. Cracker Barrel was never a "general store". It was always a restaurant. A "general store" is not a restaurant. It's a small retail outlet that sells most of the things a farmer needs.
The "lots of stuff on the walls" thing was popular once, from the Hungry Hunter to Banana Republic to the Hard Rock Cafe. It's kind of over.
In Silicon Valley and vicinity, we can see some real general stores.
San Gregorio CA used to have a real general store, serving a hard to reach agricultural area of San Mateo County. They still have something called that. But it's now a tourist kitsch outlet with live music on weekends.
Half Moon Bay Feed and Fuel is for real. Stuck on a tourist street, they have tourist stuff in the front. Towards the back it's gear and feed for horses, cattle and poultry. They sell live chicks, the people behind the counter all ride horses, and you can pull up out back and have feed loaded. Good collection of shovels, buckets, and horse tack.
Peninsula Feed Store in San Carlos is also for real. They recently had an open box of "superworms" squirming around on the counter for customers to admire and buy. The usual big racks of feed sacks are there, and they deliver. They, too, sell live chicks. Feed prices are OK, shavings are overpriced. Some tools, not many, since there's a Home Depot and a OSH nearby.
Cracker Barrel was never a real general store like that.
> Cracker Barrel was never a "general store". It was always a restaurant. A "general store" is not a restaurant. It's a small retail outlet that sells most of the things a farmer needs.
Yeah but how many restaurants sold real leather bullwhips to kids (in the 90s)?
> but the United States is not made up of well-adjusted adults; it’s made up of Americans.
I had to laugh at that 8-)
It's certainly the root of a lot bigger problems than cracker barrel rebranding...
I think rebranding happens so often because we are all out of lucrative ideas. It's just another tool in the "maybe this will work" pile of things that corporations do.
We have yet to see how AI will actually meaningfully change our lives and culture for profit. With the internet this was fairly obvious...the internet in our pockets at all times even more so.
So what are corporations to do? Offshore, stock buybacks, and rebrands. "Maybe this will work!"
I like the new logo. The yellow part in the shape of a barrel is a really nice detail.
Interesting, though the author needs to pull the dictionary out of his arse. The point of writing is to communicate, not to show off your vocabulary.