A&E Network and Cracker Barrel – Birds of a Feather?

The recent actions of both the A&E network and Cracker Barrel restaurants are similar signs of the moral confusion of the times.  These companies’ respective responses to the controversial comments of Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson give a revealing view of the corporate culture of each company.  Both A&E and Cracker Barrel have a carefully crafted, though very different, public image.  Each company portrays itself as clearly standing for certain values.  In the end, however, we see that neither company has any real convictions – other than the conviction that consumers are resources to be exploited for profit.

In the case of A&E, their corporate name reflects their target viewer:  they market to those who enjoy arts and entertainment.  This demographic has typically been an educated, liberal, politically active collection of people including the cultural elite.  A&E openly promotes a number of politically correct views including LGBT rights and same-sex marriage.  A&E has become an umbrella company (now Arts and Entertainment Television Network) which owns a number of cable channels including Lifetime, Biography, and the History Channel.  A&E is itself owned by a joint venture between NBC Universal, Disney-ABC and the Hearst Corporation. 

With the creation of AETN, A&E CEO Abbe Raven was promoted to chairman of AETN earlier this year.  According to The Wrap, “In her new capacity, Raven will spearhead the company's long-term business and revenue opportunities, along with public policy initiatives.”  Raven is clearly the decision maker at the helm of A&E, and is likely the one who made the quick decision to suspend Phil Robertson.  A native of Queens, NY with an educational background in theater, Raven has spent her career growing up in the cable entertainment industry.  She was the driving force behind the History Channel and its phenomenal success as well as the revitalization of A&E.  Her urban entertainment background places her squarely in the camp of cultural elites.

Cracker Barrel, on the other hand, cannot be said to cater to the cultural elite by any stretch and targets what is perhaps the polar opposite of A&E’s desired market.  Grits, turnip greens, catfish and country music in an atmosphere of southern country memorabilia pull in consumers with rural nostalgic leanings.   Traditional values are marketed through their restaurants and stores.  Cracker Barrel’s simple, wholesome, down-home image couldn’t be more different than A&E. 

Cracker Barrel’s current CEO since 2011, Sandra Cochran, comes from a very different but no less accomplished background than A&E’s Abbe Raven.  After growing up on various US and German military bases, Cochran attended Vanderbilt University graduating with a degree in Chemical Engineering.  She later earned an MBA from Pacific Lutheran University.  After spending time in the Army and achieving the rank of captain, Cochran went to work as a vice-president of SunTrust bank and later as CEO of Books-A-Million.  As with A&E’s Raven, Cochran has a fairly “elite” background as well.

So what do these two companies have in common?  It is quite clear that while each company caters to a different type of consumer, neither company’s leadership values the convictions of their target customers.  A&E initially responded quite consistently with their historic liberal leanings when they placed Phil Robertson on "hiatus".  Ten days later when they reinstated Robertson, we saw that the only real conviction A&E has is to the profits generated by their shows.   What about Cracker Barrel?  If they had one iota of consumer awareness, they would never have made the move to remove Phil Robertson products in the first place.  Even though they quickly reversed course, their initial knee-jerk reaction showed that Cracker Barrel doesn’t hold the convictions of their target consumers either. 

In the final analysis, we see that both companies are values-flexible entities who see consumers as nothing more than sources of dollars to be exploited.  Such are the times in which we live.  Maybe it’s too much to expect that people have convictions based on a carefully thought out world view.  Maybe it’s too much to believe that companies – particularly publicly traded companies – can actually stand for something or have a clear moral compass.  Maybe there is just too much internal diversity of opinion for companies to establish convictions on anything.  I find this sad.   

I believe these examples of shifting positions to be signs of the times.  It’s a shame when two companies that seemingly stand for such different values really have more in common with each other than with the consumers who make them successful.  I have been both a viewer of A&E programs and a frequent customer at Cracker Barrel restaurants for many years.  I will be watching each company carefully.  While I may dislike opinions which stand against my own, I dislike obscured convictions even more.  I want to know who I’m dealing with.  Will the real corporations please stand up?