What genuinely counts when every small problem is labeled as “woke”? On CNN’s Newsnight this week, Caroline Downey, a conservative National Review columnist, warned Republicans to avoid using the cultural buzzword.
The most recent conservative outcry over Cracker Barrel’s new logo (a simplified redesign that removed the wooden barrel and elderly man from its branding) prompted her comments. Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida and lots of MAGA influencers quickly referred to the action as a “woke rebrand,” triggering a flurry of online outrage.
But Downey wouldn’t have it. “Not everything is woke,” she put it. “I think we’re abusing the term a little bit too much where it’s losing its meaning (…) Because some things actually are woke and we should call it like it is.”
Downey: Not everything is woke. I think we’re abusing the term a little bit too much, where it’s losing its meaning, and that’s really important because some things actually are woke and we should call it like it is pic.twitter.com/k8hDyA0ckr
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 22, 2025
The Cracker Barrel issue is just the most recent in a long line of marketing and branding choices that have drawn criticism from the right. Conservative influencers have made it a pastime to attack companies for giving in to “wokeism,” from Bud Light to M&M’s.
Yet, Downey argued that seeing every change, regardless of how minor, as a component of a progressive plot weakens the word “woke”‘s power and carries the risk of making conservatives sound small-minded.
Ironically, Downey herself didn’t like the new Cracker Barrel logo, but the issue she raised wasn’t related to “woke.” Instead, she made fun of the company’s choices, saying, “Who at that roundtable was thinking (…) ‘let’s go back to the minimalism of five years ago that is sterile and bland and neutered and let’s rob this iconic, timeless company of all of its character and charm and fun history and country vibes?”
Downey smiled, saying that “maximalism is the moment,” which suggested that questionable marketing instincts rather than left-wing cultural invasion were the leading root cause of Cracker Barrel’s logo problem.
If Downey’s attempt at nuance was unusual, the internet was much less refined.
People were making fun of MAGA’s hair-trigger use of the term on X (formerly Twitter). With a flurry of laughing emojis, a user summed up the overall vibe with the comment, “In MAGA world EVERTHING is woke!” “I need a source for Gen Z loving Cracker Barrel, I don’t think anyone likes paying $20 for pancakes,” a second wrote, pointing out flaws in the company’s Gen Z marketing plan.
The redesign may have been more practical than politically driven.
That precisely what another user said: “Not everything is about ‘woke.’ Sometimes it’s just a marketing miss… Now you have to be able to print your logo very small, like on the tabs on a phone. Overly complex logos become unrecognizable.” With a scathing comment, Kimberly wrapped up her observation: “MAGA needs to stop being so friggin’ sensitive.”
Cracker Barrel’s new logo is causing some nostalgic fans to lament the loss of its country kitsch, while some conservatives blamed so-called “wokeness” for the sleek redesign. pic.twitter.com/mZB6YTu6eS
— National Voice (@haapinesisfree) August 21, 2025
Downey’s comments draw focus on an even larger issue in conservative politics: “woke” loses its meaning when it becomes a common insult for all cultural grievances. She pointed out that talks about progressive cultural movements are relevant. However, the term risks losing its meaning if every corporate rebrand, rainbow logo, or change in product is written off as “woke.”
That may be a bigger problem for conservatives than a restaurant logo in today’s culture wars, where branding is so important.
