We can’t tell from the reporting Monday whether Trader Joe’s is updating the packaging of its international foods because of a petition started by a high-school student (that garnered 1,700 signatures!) or if the repackaging has been in the works for a long time; in either case, Trader Joe’s has made it known that it will no longer label its Mexican foods with the brand name Trader José.
Trader Joe’s said it is repackaging international food products branded with ethnic-sounding names in response to a petition calling for the chain to “remove racist branding and packaging.” https://t.co/iRiADg8XUa
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) July 20, 2020
Responding to calls for Trader Joe's to stop labeling its international food products with ethnic-sounding names, the grocery store chain said it has been in a yearslong process of repackaging those products and will soon complete the work https://t.co/GTpzepSyuI pic.twitter.com/4JamBOxS9m
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) July 20, 2020
Petition demands Trader Joe's change its 'racist' food packaging. Current packaging, says petition, belies "a narrative of exoticism” & “exoticizes other cultures — it presents 'Joe' as the default 'normal.'” The company says it will try to comply. ?
https://t.co/wBoOdfPX7t— Christina Sommers (@CHSommers) July 19, 2020
Also being purged: Trader Ming’s and Trader Giotto’s. The petition states that the labels promote harmful stereotypes by normalizing “Joe” and making other cultures sound exotic or “other.”
I’m so confused. I thought we were wanting to embrace other ethnicities. I thought lefts argument was the western culture “white washes” everything. You cant win with these people. When will this end?
— Rosaura Cabrera (@RosauraCabrera9) July 20, 2020
Would I be wrong to assume a white person started this petition? I will always listen to a marginalized group but I wasn't aware anyone found these offensive.
— JW (@jeffwhite32) July 20, 2020
They need to change the name "Trader Joe's" too. "Trader" triggers me and reminds me of slave trading, and combining it with the name "Joe" suggests that people named Joe are slavers, which isn't true because my uncle Joe had no slaves. I know because I had to mow his lawn myself
— NotSorry (@BCarterSMC) July 20, 2020
Hey, Realtors are going to stop referring to “master bedrooms,” so the logic checks out.
No one asked for this
— Nichelle Moore • ?BLM ? (@shurinicole) July 20, 2020
One person asked for it, and about 2,000 people signed on. So almost no one asked for this.
This is just getting stupid.
— God Fearing Gator Gamer (PEWDIEPIE STAN ACCOUNT) (@GFgatorgamer) July 20, 2020
STOP! I'm Mexican and this does not offend me nor does it offend any Mexican I know.
— Eddie_A (@NeBiWo) July 20, 2020
I have no idea what any of this means.
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) July 19, 2020
Anyone who doesn't detect the clear attempt of woke crowd to assert their dominance over everything, is not paying attention.
Wokism is just bullying on a massive scale. Bending the knee to bullies is the one thing that people should never do.
Its totalitarian fascism.
— Jon Saxon (@jonsaxon67) July 19, 2020
Everything is stupid and companies are moronic for excusing this
— Loren (@LorenSethC) July 19, 2020
— SeldenGADawgs (@SeldenGADawgs) July 19, 2020
So let me get this straight. They are saying you can sell products from other cultures, but we insist you put the American brand name “Trader Joe’s” on them when you do so.
I can’t keep track of which cultural appropriation is good and which is bad any more.
— Nathan Arneal (@NJArneal) July 19, 2020
I'm laughing out loud. ? Every day is more unbelievable than than the day before.
— ??Eric Carmen?? (@RealEricCarmen) July 20, 2020
This makes me sad. I’m Mexican-American and I loved “Trader José.” Why won’t these companies stand up to the bullies? Everyone knows they are a tiny, obnoxious minority. Ugh.
— Catherine Montalbo (@CDMontalbo) July 19, 2020
I know, I thought it was really cute. I like seeing how names with the same origin differ across languages.
— puffnstuff (@puffnstuff14) July 19, 2020
We've lost the capacity to know what racism actually means.
This is not it.— Jordy McNab (@JordyMcnab) July 19, 2020
It doesn't matter much in the world either way, but it's strange how a petition signed by a tiny number of people causes a corporation to change its behavior. Changing packaging won't hurt sales and so might as well. Let's see how successful a petition is that impacts profits.
— No Name is Safe (@themaninbpt) July 20, 2020
Apparently the petition didn't actually do anything. Trader Joe's says they already decided to change the packaging, and have in fact already done so in many cases. Yet media outlets now give credit to 1,000 online randos, making it look like this was a sudden grassroots triumph.
— Edward Carney (@Edward_Carney) July 20, 2020
Trader Joe’s expects to complete the repackaging process “very soon.”
Whatever makes them feel morally superior and temporarily safe. ?☕ https://t.co/mnLuorh0wx
— Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) July 20, 2020
Related:
Finally! Land O’Lakes takes important step in fixing America’s problematic past by completely erasing Native American woman from packaging https://t.co/0M9zhM3yPl
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 17, 2020
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