An online petition is asking Trader Joe’s grocery chain to change the packaging and branding of some of its products amid claims encouraging racist stereotypes.
Protesters have struggled with branding of chain food products from different parts of the world changing the name in ‘Trader Joe’s’ to a popular or common name from their home country.
See products from China with the brand ‘Trader Ming’s’, products from Italy called ‘Trader Giotto’s’ and those from Mexico called ‘Trader José’s’.
Trader Joe’s is coming under fire for its alternative product name that a new petition calls racist. Trader Ming’s, Trader Giotto’s and Trader José’s have been used in place of Joe
Food products that were considered Italian used the ‘Trader Giotto’s’ brand
Baker Josef and Trader Ming are among the other labels causing outrage
Other variants include ‘Arabian Joe’ in Middle Eastern food and ‘Trader Joe San’ in Japanese cuisine.
The petition has criticized the practice and demands that the company “remove racist brands and packaging from its stores.”
“The supermarket chain labels some of its ethnic foods with” Joe “modifications that hide a narrative of exoticism that perpetuates harmful stereotypes,” he says.
“The Trader Joe brand is racist because it exoticizes other cultures: it features” Joe “as the default” normal “and the other characters left out of it,” the petition continues.
“The common thread between all these transgressions is the perpetuation of exoticism, whose objective is not to appreciate other cultures, but to promote others and distance them from the” normal “perceived.
It deals with more problems with the chain’s brand and the design of its stores, which, he claims, developed from “a racist book and a controversial theme park attraction.”
He says that both inspirations for chain design “have come under fire for romanticizing Western imperialism and fetishizing non-Western peoples.”
According to the company’s website, founder Joe Coulombe had been reading a book called White Shadows in the South Seas and had recently been on the trip to Disneyland Jungle Trip when he came up with the design concept for Trader Joe’s.
“The White Shadows in the South Seas book is racist because it perpetuates the myth of the” white god “and the stereotypes of” noble savage, “” the petition states.
The merchant José has been used in products imported from Mexico
Trader Joe San was used in Japanese products. The company has said it is working to replace the packaging and that the practice stopped on new products several years ago.
An online petition calls on the Trader Joe’s supermarket chain to change the packaging and branding of some of its products amid claims encouraging racist stereotypes like Trader Ming on Chinese products and Trader Giotto on Italian products.
“It becomes even more racist in context because the founder of Trader Joe’s said that this book inspired him in some way by creating his company, a book that shows the exotification of merchants from non-Western towns turned into violent exploitation and destruction.” .
He adds that the Disney ride is also racist because “it shows caricatures of non-western people along with exotic animals, such as a theme park attraction to be admired.”
Trader Joe’s has responded to criticism by acknowledging that the packaging needs to be changed, alleging that the company had made the decision to discontinue the practice of new products years ago, but is still in the process of removing it from previous packaging.
The petition also claims that Trader Joe founder Joe Coulombe, photographed in 1985, was inspired by stores by two racist sources.
“While this approach to product naming may have originated in a lighthearted attempt at inclusion, we recognize that it may now have the opposite effect, one that is contrary to the welcoming and rewarding customer experience that we strive to create. days, “Kenyan friend Daniel Daniel, national director of public relations for Trader Joe’s, told San Francisco Gate.
‘With this in mind, we made the decision several years ago to use only the Trader Joe name in our products in the future.
“Since then, we have been in the process of updating old labels and replacing any variations with the Trader Joe’s name, and we will continue to do so until we complete this important work.”
However, the company was unable to give an exact date when this transition to new packaging would be completed.
“Right now, I don’t have an exact date, but we hope to have the work completed very soon,” he says.
“The packaging of various products has already been changed, but there are a small number of products where the packaging is still in process.”
The petition to change the brand as nearly 800 signatures, starting Friday night.
This is not the first time that Trader Joe’s packaging has been accused of being racist and inauthentic.
“As is often the case in American workplaces, classrooms, and other settings, ethnic names are something we should make fun of or not take them so seriously compared to their Anglophone counterparts,” a scathing critic of Nylon said the year. past.
In 2019, an article on the food website The Kitchn criticized the company for only branded products like ‘authentic’ cuisine if they had their origins outside of Europe.
Indian and Mexican dishes were rated “authentic”, but European foods were not.
The petition claims that the Trader Joe’s store issue was based on racist sources.
The online petition has amassed hundreds of signatures, but Trader Joe’s says it is already in the process of changing the packaging. I didn’t have a date to complete
“By marketing certain foods as” authentic, “merchant Joe’s subtly supports racist and colonial hierarchies, which no one wants to see at” their neighborhood grocery store, “he added.
The petition comes as protests against racism across the country following the murder of George Floyd in police custody on May 25 sparked a wave of calls for racist names and brands.
This week, the Washington NFL franchise announced that it will remove the ‘Redskins’ name and logo immediately, giving in to decades of criticism that they are offensive to Native Americans.
The Eskimo Pie owner said late last month that he is changing his name and marketing the nearly century-old chocolate-covered ice cream bar.
Quaker Oats announced early last month that it will withdraw the Aunt Jemima brand, saying the company acknowledges that the character’s origins are “based on a racial stereotype.”
Other companies are reviewing their name or logo.
B&G Foods Inc., which produces Cream of Wheat hot cereal, said last month that it is initiating an “immediate review” of its packaging.
A smiling black chef holding a bowl of cereal has been featured on Cream of Wheat packaging and in ads since at least 1918, according to the company’s website.
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