The Scoop: Bots and AI propelled Cracker Barrel backlash

You’ve doubtless heard of the backlash to Cracker Barrel’s bland, now-retracted logo that omitted its classic “old timer” character. It spurred outrage across social media, became a symbol of the culture war, tanked the stock price and caused an expensive rollback of not only the logo, but also the company’s remodeling campaign.

Now, research shows that about half of that social media outcry was fake.

According to social analytics company PeakMetrics, 44.5% of X posts about the Cracker Barrel logo in the 24 hours after the story broke were bots or could be bots. Among those calling for a boycott of the store, 49% appeared to be fake.

Signs of bot activity include the use of duplicate messages, reposting the same thing over and over or posting nearly round the clock, the Wall Street Journal  reported.

Later, authentic accounts — including Senator Marsha Blackburn and even Donald Trump himself — caught onto the backlash. But it appears the apparent groundswell of support that helped elevate it to a national story was, at least in part, fabricated.

“There is an ecosystem of people who are looking for anything to grasp onto,” Molly Dwyer, director of insights at PeakMetrics, told the Journal. “There has been a vibe shift, and I don’t think that companies have quite caught up to it yet.”

Why it matters: There is no easy solution here.

It’s easy to say merely that companies should monitor social media mentions for bots and ignore them when they reach critical mass.

But unfortunately, bot traffic can get stories trending, which can then allow large, authentic accounts to catch wind of and elevate these stories to true crises. At that point, it doesn’t matter if they were buoyed by bots — the stories have breached containment and need to be dealt with.

Unfortunately, there are limited options for companies dealing with this. X declined to comment for the story, so we have no insight into how they’re dealing with bots — a problem Elon Musk has consistently said he’d deal with, but which is obviously still in force. AI has made it even easier to perform these kinds of reputational attacks at scale.

The best advice is to be aware of these bots. Not all activity is authentic — but it will still be your problem to deal with. But when you’re talking to executives, you’ll at least be able to present the full story to leadership.

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One Response to “The Scoop: Bots and AI propelled Cracker Barrel backlash”

Shanna says: October 2, 2025 at 5:55 am

No. It didn’t. It’s the tone deaf CEO. Look at the newest ad. Broccoli and roasted chicken. Really? The demographic is certainly not dieters, it’s about comfort food. We need better mashed potatoes and biscuits. Chicken and dumplings. Pancakes that aren’t burned. Actual cod fish. People go there to retreat and treat themselves, not to diet.