Most companies avoid taking overt political stands.
Many businesses donate money to politicians on both sides of the aisle while others work hard to stay neutral.
Some companies, like Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby, embrace the politics of the people who own them. In those two cases, both brands have openly embraced the religious faith of their founder/owners.
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Both those companies also have run into issues where their ownership's stand on LGBTQ+ issues have led to a left-wing backlash.
The left, however, has rarely been as aggressive as the right when it comes to boycotts and might understand that what corporate leaders believe does not necessarily mean that local store leaders (franchises in Chick-fil-A's case) fully share those values.
Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A, however, don't make any attempt to hide their right-wing leanings. Other chains get painted as being right-wing-leaning, not because of what their leadership says but because of their customer base.
Cracker Barrel, a chain that operates mostly in the south, has a significant right-leaning customer base. And some of those customers have called for a boycott of the chain simply because Cracker Barrel (CBRL) posted a message on its Facebook account celebrating Pride Month.
"We are excited to celebrate Pride Month with our employees and guests," the restaurant posted. "Everyone is always welcome at our table (and our rocker). Happy Pride!"
Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Cracker Barrel Is Not New to Right-Wing Backlash
Cracker Barrel in August 2022 also faced a customer backlash when it added a plant-based-sausage option to its menu. It did not stop offering traditional sausages; the chain merely added a meat-free choice, and that angered some of its customer base, which called for boycotts.
At the time the social-media backlash was significant, as many people who purported to be Cracker Barrel customers called the choice to offer plant-based sausage "woke" and threatened to no longer eat there.
Cracker Barrel's post supporting Pride Week has received 70,000 comments, the vast majority of them supporting the chain.
"Love this!! Thank you for standing with everyone. We haven’t been in a while, but I think we need to go again very soon. The best!" wrote Carly Weisthal.
"You will be opening in my city. I will be a customer. Respecting the humanity of ALL people matters, and matters to me a lot," wrote Kathy V. Baldock.
Cracker Barrel responded to an awful lot of the comments, with its response to Baldock being representative.
"Kathy V. Baldock Our doors and our hearts are open for all who visit here at Cracker Barrel. Thank you so much for sharing these kind words, Kathy. We can't wait to see you!" the chain answered.
Right-Wing Calls for Boycotts of Cracker Barrel
Lauren Chen, a host on the right-wing BlazeTV outlet and a contributor to the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, took to Twitter to call for a boycott of the chain.
"Thankfully, this makes it even easier than ever to skip this mid restaurant whenever someone recommends it. Everyone else should do their part and skip dining at the Cracker Barrel, too," she posted over a retweet of the chain's Tweet
Her comment got hundreds of supportive responses from people who said they would no longer eat the chain. Chen was joined by other right-wing groups that expressed outrage over Cracker Barrel's message of inclusivity.
“We take no pleasure in reporting that @CrackerBarrel has fallen,” tweeted Texas Family Project, a conservative advocacy group based in Austin. “A once family-friendly establishment has caved to the mob.”
Many of the responses to the tweets -- which have amassed tens of millions of views -- used some form of the phrase "go woke, go broke."
Chick-fil-A faced a similar backlash earlier this year when it posted a job offering for a diversity, equity, and inclusion human resources position.
#BoycottCrackerBarrel has trended on Twitter. Similar hashtags have targeted Chick-fil-A and Target (TGT). which sold Pride merchandise in its stores (but has since pulled some of that merchandise in order to keep workers safe).
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