The Cracker Barrel logo fiasco had all the makings of a small-town play staged in a national arena: the beloved image swapped for something sleeker, the tumble in the stock price, a rush of nostalgia-tinged outrage and, inevitably, a retreat. Somewhere in the middle came a White House-distributed illustration of President Donald Trump rocking contentedly on the brand’s porch — proof that even a new typeface can become a proxy battle for American culture.

What might once have been a footnote in a quarterly earnings report has become a recognizable genre: the corporate reversal, performed in public, equal parts contrition and spectacle.

Cracker Barrel even tried to play both roles at once. On Tuesday, it posted a note insisting the new logo would stay, but apologizing for the rollout — “we

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