President Donald Trump is celebrating Cracker Barrel reverting its logo after he weighed in amid its rebrand backlash.
The restaurant chain unveiled a simpler logo on Aug. 19 that bore just the name and no man in overalls leaning on a barrel. The move sparked backlash, and Trump weighed in on Truth Social on Aug. 26, saying the company should go back to the old logo. Later that day, the company announced it would do just that.
Trump’s presidency has brought changing landscape for corporations between the executive orders on diversity equity and inclusion and the ever-evolving tariffs. But the president himself has also weighed in on some of the public controversies over company branding and advertisements. Take a look back:
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Former President Donald Trump’s business deals — including Trump-branded skyscrapers, golf courses and hotels — span the globe. See inside his business empire.
In this file photo, Trump during a round of golf at his Turnberry course on May 2, 2023 in Turnberry, Scotland.
Trump congratulates Cracker Barrel on logo backtrack
Cracker Barrel removing its “Old Timer” man sitting next to the barrel prompted backlash, with some people suggesting it was a political message driven by DEI. The company said the logo was part of a new campaign to give the restaurants “an enhanced brand look and feel.”
“Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before,” Trump said in an Aug. 26 post on Truth Social. “Make Cracker Barrel a WINNER again.”
The company announced later that day it was reverting back to the logo with the “Old Timer” in it.
“Congratulations ‘Cracker Barrel’ on changing your logo back to what it was,” Trump wrote shortly after on Truth Social. “All of your fans very much appreciate it. Good luck into the future. Make lots of money and, most importantly, make your customers happy again!”
American Eagle ads with a (reportedly) Republican actress
Trump posted on Truth Social on Aug. 4 in support of Sydney Sweeney, who was at the center of a debate around an American Eagle ad campaign she appears in. The ad features Sweeney in all denim, and plays on words implying she has good “jeans” and “genes,” which some have argued has an undertone of eugenics.
During the debate around the ads, reports surfaced that Sweeney is a registered Republican in Florida, and Trump quickly took her side when talking to reporters on Aug. 3, saying “Oh, now I love her ad … If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic.”
Trump says Bud Light parent company ‘perhaps deserves a Second Chance.’
Once America’s most popular beer, Bud Light, came under backlash from conservatives around Pride Month in 2023 after it gifted transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney a personalized beer can. She said she went through bullying and transphobia as a result of the backlash.
Bud Light’s sales dropped off in the aftermath, slipping in popularity rankings behind Modelo Especial and Michelob Ultra by summer 2024.
In February 2024, as Trump was plotting his way back to the White House, Trump came out in defense of Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch.
“The Bud Light ad was a mistake of epic proportions, and for that a very big price was paid, but Anheuser-Busch is not a Woke company,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “Anheuser-Busch is a Great American Brand that perhaps deserves a Second Chance?”
More: Dylan Mulvaney awarded Woman of the Year by well-known LGBTQ+ magazine in the U.K.
Tariffs impact American companies, but Trump called Bezos when price increases displayed
Trump and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ newfound congeniality was nearly upended on April 29 when it looked like the company would display the impact of tariffs on its prices.
A report from news outlet Punchbowl indicated Amazon was planning to display how much a cost hike is due to the Trump administration’s tariffs on imports. The report came at a time when China and the U.S. were in a trade war and some items coming in from China faced more than 200% tax on arrival.
The White House quickly attacked the retail giant over the move. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called it a “hostile and political act by Amazon.”
Hours later, Amazon quickly vowed that it was not displaying the tariff breakdown price increases. Trump said he spoke to Bezos directly in the interim.
“Jeff Bezos is very nice. Terrific. He solved the problem very quickly,” Trump told reporters, according to a pool report. “He did the right thing. Good guy.”
From trying to ban TikTok to trying to save it
In January, TikTok went dark for a little more than 12 hours in the U.S. after the app was effectively banned under federal legislation. U.S. internet hosting services made TikTok unavailable to access, and app stores removed the app for download.
This federal legislation was signed by Biden in 2024. The legislation gave ByteDance until Jan. 19, 2025, to divest TikTok or face a ban. Some politicians see TikTok as a national security threat, expressing concern that ByteDance may be sharing U.S. user data with the Chinese government. ByteDance has denied these claims, which remain unsubstantiated. Trump also tried to ban the app by executive action in 2020.
During the short-lived January shutdown, Trump promised internet hosting services and app stores that they could restore TikTok and not face legal penalties.
Internet hosting services like Oracle didn’t waste time rebooting the app, but it wasn’t until Feb. 13 that TikTok became available again in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Trump has extended the deadline for the ban three times, and may do so again at the Sept. 17 deadline. The Trump administration has also been involved in trying to broker a deal to allow the app to be divested from its parent company.
DEI rollbacks prompted protests at these chains
When Trump took office in January, he signed a number of executive orders aimed at eliminating “illegal DEI.” As a result, some corporations began rolling back their DEI goals publicly, though those rollbacks have led to to pro-DEI consumer boycotts. Companies that have been protested this year include:
Contributing: Jessica Guynn, James Powel, Melina Khan, Rene Ray De La Cruz, Joey Garrison, Greta Cross, USA TODAY Network
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump on Cracker Barrel latest among these corporate controversies
