-By Warner Todd Huston
Cracker Barrel restaurants found itself in its own Ducking hullabaloo this weekend when it bowed to pressure from militant gay groups to pull Duck Dynasty merchandise. On Friday the national restaurant chain announced it was pulling the products from its gift shop shelves but by Sunday it reversed itself announcing it had “made a mistake.”
On Friday December 20, Cracker Barrel announced on its Facebook page that it was dumping any Duck Dynasty product with Phil Robertson’s face on it.
In the posting the restaurant chain wrote the following:
Cracker Barrel’s mission is Pleasing People. We operate within the ideals of fairness, mutual respect and equal treatment of all people. These ideals are the core of our corporate culture.
We continue to offer Duck Commander products in our stores.
We removed selected products which we were concerned might offend some of our guests while we evaluate the situation.
We continually evaluate the products we offer and will continue to do so.
Obviously, Cracker Barrel thought it was walking a safe, middle course. It could satisfy the militant gays and still make it seem as if they were supporting the TV show’s fans. Notice that the company didn’t take all Duck Dynasty products off its gift shop shelves. Only those with Phil Robertson’s face on them. But that “safe” course turned out to be a disastrous choice, nonetheless.
Only two days later, the restaurant chain was hit with such a major backlash from its customers that it changed its mind. Quickly the company reversed course and put the products back on its shelves because of the outrage caused among its customers.
By Sunday, Cracker Barrel put up a new Facebook post saying:
Dear Cracker Barrel Customer:
When we made the decision to remove and evaluate certain Duck Dynasty items, we offended many of our loyal customers. Our intent was to avoid offending, but that’s just what we’ve done.
You told us we made a mistake. And, you weren’t shy about it. You wrote, you called and you took to social media to express your thoughts and feelings. You flat out told us we were wrong.
We listened.
Today, we are putting all our Duck Dynasty products back in our stores.
And, we apologize for offending you.
We respect all individuals right to express their beliefs. We certainly did not mean to have anyone think different.
We sincerely hope you will continue to be part of our Cracker Barrel family.
Looks like not that many leftists go to Cracker Barrel, eh?
Next up to realize the error of its ways… the A&E cable network?
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, MrConservative.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, Wizbang.com, among many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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