Trader Joe’s is at the center of controversy as a result of the company’s branding decisions.
The popular grocery chain offers a variety of ethnic food brands in stores, but the way the store labels these foods has led to some customers speaking out against the store. Specifically, people took issue with the way the company uses variations of “Trader Joe’s” to mark their ethnic foods; “Trader Ming’s” for Chinese food, “Trader José’s” for Mexican food, “Arabian Joe” for Middle Eastern food, “Trader Giotto’s” for Italian food, and “Trader Joe San” for Japanese food.
A Change.org petition, titled “Trader Joe’s: Remove Racist Packaging From Your Products,” drew attention to the issue, but the company’s reaction to the petition shocked customers.
Keep reading for all the details.
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The petition calls out Trader Joe's for their packaging, arguing that it is racist and problematic. The petition reads, "The Trader Joe’s branding is racist because it exoticizes other cultures - it presents 'Joe' as the default “normal” and the other characters falling outside of it - they are 'Arabian Joe,' 'Trader José,' and 'Trader Joe San.'"
Trader Joe's, however, disagrees. The grocery store has explicitly argued against the idea that this branding is not racist, but simply an "attempt to have fun with our product marketing."
Despite defending the packaging, Trader Joe's has decided to change the way they label their ethnic food brands--though the company insists that the decision was not a result of the petition.
In a statement shared on the Trader Joe's website, the company explained, "We want to be clear: we disagree that any of these labels are racist. We do not make decisions based on petitions ... If we feel there is need for change, we do not hesitate to take action."
According to the statement, several years ago, the Trader Joe's buying team "review[ed] all our products to see if we needed to update any older packages, and also see if the associated brands developed years ago needed to be refreshed."
Although some products have been updated, the company has no current plans to implement a larger scale change.
Instead, the statement simply promised that the team would continue to evaluate the situation and make a decision based on how customer and team member feedback: "We continue our ongoing evaluation, and those products that resonate with our customers and sell well will remain on our shelves."
