Online petition demands Trader Joe’s change 'racist' branding and packaging of products from Mexico and China

An online petition has demanded grocery store chain Trader Joe’s to change its racist branding and food packaging. The demand has originated from the fact that the store re-brands some of the food items from various parts of the world under the Trader Joe's umbrella. For example, products from China are branded with 'Trader Ming's', 'Trader Giotto's' to refer products from Italy, and those from Mexico named 'Trader José's'.

The petition on Change.org that has received 819 signatures of its target of 1000 has called out the practice and demanded that the firm “remove racist branding and packaging from its stores”. “The grocery chain labels some of its ethnic foods with modifications of “Joe” that belies a narrative of exoticism that perpetuates harmful stereotypes. 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,” the statement read.

It continued: “The common thread between all of these transgressions is the perpetuation of exoticism, the goal of which is not to appreciate other cultures, but to further other and distance them from the perceived “normal.” The current branding, given this essential context, then becomes even more trivializing and demeaning than before. What at first seems, at worst, insensitive, further is called into question.”

In addition, the petition has also deemed the store’s design as racist since the chain's founder Joe Coulombe based the design on racist sources. It read, “The Trader Joe's company takes pride in the fact that the founder, Joe Coulombe, took inspiration in building the Trader Joe’s brand from a racist book and a controversial theme park attraction, both of which have received criticism for romanticizing Western Imperialism and fetishizing non-Western peoples.”

The grocery store chain’s website stated that its founder Coulombe started by taking over a small chain of convenience stores around the LA area, called Pronto Markets. However, after ten years, he realized that the demographics were changing in the US and came up with Trader Joe’s in 1967. “At the time, Joe had been reading a book called "White Shadows in the South Seas," and he’d been to the Disneyland Jungle Trip ride, and it all just…coalesced,” the website mentioned.

But the petition has claimed that “the book White Shadows in the South Seas is racist because it perpetuates the myth of the “white god” and the “noble savage” stereotypes. It becomes even more racist in context because the founder of Trader Joe's said that he was inspired by this book in some way when creating his company, a book which shows traders’ exotification of non-Western peoples turned into violent exploitation and destruction.”

“The Disney Jungle Cruise is racist because it displays caricatures of non-Western peoples alongside exotic animals, as an attraction at a theme park to be gawked at,” the petition added.

Following the criticism, Trader Joe's has responded. In a statement, the company said: “While this approach to product naming may have been rooted in a lighthearted attempt at inclusiveness, we recognize that it may now have the opposite effect— one that is contrary to the welcoming, rewarding customer experience we strive to create every day.” Kenya Friend-Daniel, national director of public relations for Trader Joe's said. “With this in mind, we made the decision several years ago to use only the Trader Joe's name on our products moving forward. Since then, we have been in the process of updating older labels and replacing any variations with the name Trader Joe's, and we will continue do so until we complete this important work.”

The statement, however, added that they do not have exact date, but "we expect to have the work completed very soon."