When Trader Joe’s founder Joe Coulombe died earlier this year, he was hailed as a marketing genius, a retail visionary. He had opened a small nautical-themed market in South Pasadena in 1967 and watched it grow into an empire of nearly 500 stores across the country.
But today that empire, known for its trade show motive and international product lines, has come under fire for its ethnic food brand. The names of Trader Ming’s, Arabian Joe’s, Trader Jose’s, Trader Giotto’s, and Trader Joe San appear on such items as habañero and lime sauce, gyoza sauce, and artichoke antipasto.
The popular Southern California institution has created “a narrative of exoticism,” according to an online petition published about two weeks ago asking Trader Joe’s to remove and rename a variety of products with “racist” labels.
“The Trader Joe’s brand is racist because it exoticizes other cultures: it presents ‘Joe’ as the default ‘normal’ and the other characters are left out of it,” said the petition published by Briones Bedell, 17.
In a statement, Trader Joe’s, which Coulombe sold in 1979 to the German supermarket chain Aldi, acknowledged that its approach to product naming, “rooted in a lighthearted attempt at inclusion … may now have the opposite effect.” A spokeswoman said the company is changing the packaging and hopes to complete the process “very soon.”
What was once considered successful marketing was shaken by a cultural moment that gripped the aftermath of George Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter protests.
Trader Joe’s had famously prospered on the assumption that everything is fair in the name of free enterprise and commerce, and consumers responded, lured by its quirky themes and budget prices.
But in recent months, public spaces have lost statues, buildings have been stripped of their names, and now consumer products are having a day of reckoning amid a nationwide reconsideration of once accepted precepts. popularly.
Land O’Lakes has removed the image of a Native American woman from its butter products, and images of black men and women in product lines like Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Mrs. Butterworth are renewed, if they survive. The Eskimo Foot name is also being replaced.
“Gone are the days when communication between brands and consumers was one-way,” said Maria Rodas, professor of marketing at USC. “Consumers have more power than ever, given the wealth of information at their fingertips, how connected everyone is, and easy access to social media platforms that help get their messages across.”
Rhodes is not surprised that Trader Joe’s has come under fire.
“Brands are symbols, and some of them are even cultural symbols,” he said. “Years ago, people bought a product primarily for its functional benefits, but now people expect more from brands and maintain them to higher standards.”
Cultural critic MG Lord, whose book “Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll,” examined the popular perceptions of that icon, wonders why these marks were not removed earlier. She quotes Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben in particular.
“The ‘aunt’ and the ‘uncle’ clearly refer to the way the honorifics as ‘the lady’ and ‘Mr.’ they were held by older enslaved persons, ”Lord said Monday.
In his petition, Briones also questions the company’s history about the origin of the nautical theme of the market.
According to the company’s website, at the time Coulombe founded the chain, “he had been reading a book called ‘White Shadows in the South Seas’, and had been on the Disneyland Jungle Trip, and all just .. . he joined. “
But “White Shadows”, written by Frederick O’Brien and published in 1919, is far from romantic. The book, according to critics, portrays white capitalists as destroyers of native culture. The story became a 1928 silent film that was considered a technical and artistic milestone at the time.
But Briones and other critics accuse the narrative of “perpetuating the myth of the wild nobleman and the white god.” His petition also criticizes the use of stereotypes on Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise.
Inside Trader Joe’s in Temecula, shoppers packed the aisles on Monday. Loyal to their store, they did not care or had not heeded the controversy caused by product labeling.
Britny Montaño, 30, drove through the city to the store “for ethnic foods,” she said, preferring most Asian curries.
“I honestly never noticed the names of the products or found anything offensive,” he said. “But it’s difficult because as a person of color, I can see the damage.”
Standing in front of a row of cereal boxes, Sarah Adams said that would not stop her from buying her favorite snacks.
“It doesn’t bother me, I think that could be my privilege,” he said. “I don’t think they meant anything derogatory about names, but if a lot of people are upset, then I think they should change them.”
Another shopper, Doria Christie, showed no compulsion when removing her Trader Giotto Bambino pizza maker from her shopping cart.
“I’m Italian and it doesn’t offend me,” she said. “They could put strange pictures on these products, and still buy them. Trader Joe can’t do anything wrong. “
Such loyalty is expected, said Rhodes, who places Trader Joe’s in a different category than the other brand controversies.
“Trader Jose’s and those other names are just one aspect of the whimsical shopping experience at Trader Joe’s, making it easy to miss it,” he said.
In a recent price disclaimer, the company cited “fluctuating market prices, federal regulations, exchange rates, drought, bandits, rush hour traffic, filibusters, the zombie apocalypse, developers of pointy products.”
Meanwhile, Briones and his family have stopped sponsoring Trader Joe’s for now.
Briones said in a telephone interview with The Times that the company’s response encourages her, but that she wants a commitment to a timeline to remove the products and their ethnic labels.
She knows that her complaint against Trader Joe’s pale ones coupled with police brutality, but that the current climate of activism is a propitious time to question the “microaggressions” that accumulate to cause further damage.
