Trader Joe's to cut product names criticized as racist

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald-LA Times

By Howard Blume,

Trader Joe's has responded to criticisms about its packaging by announcing that it is in the process of eliminating labels that use ethnic-sounding names intended to be humorous.

The offending products bear such labels as Trader Ming's for foods and condiments related to Chinese cuisine, Trader José's for Mexican-style products and Trader Giotto's for Italian-themed items.

The company has come under fire in part from a petition, posted for about two weeks, on the Change.org website. It had collected more than 2,000 signatures by Sunday night.

The labels, which offer variations of the Trader Joe's name, exploit "a narrative of exoticism that perpetuates harmful stereotypes," according to the petition.



In this Feb. 26, 2020, file photo, the original Trader Joe's grocery store in Pasadena, Calif., is viewed. 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 years-long process of repackaging those products and will soon complete the work.

AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

Read more: https://omaha.com/news/national/trader-joes-to-cut-product-names-criticized-as-racist/article_87ac33a7-3081-54c3-95a6-68b79f95e913.html#tracking-source=top-promo

[Kali]

1. OFFS!

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. let me join you in a head smack.

guess i am going to have to change my last name. too French. my wife's is too Scottish.

[mr_lebowski]

13. +1 ridiculous ... nt

[Warpy]

17. That's all I could think of, too.

Hypersensitive morons need to find a new hobby.

[LiberalLovinLug]

57. Using common names of different ethnicities to brand stores!!!!

SHOCKING!!

LIKE....."JOE"!!!!!
I as a white north American male take GREAT OFFENCE to my ethnicity being dragged through the mud like this!!!!!

[JDC]

3. Nonsense

[ucrdem]

4. Well, it never was a great name.

I think it's meant to be ironic and retro, a play on Trader Vic's perhaps, but the Trader concept itself is kind of not where it's at. They could always go with Trekker Joe's or Trapper Joe's or something not too different if they decide to.

On the other hand, changing the name of Trader Giotto's Italian products seems to be . . . ironic?

So, hard pass on caring too much what they decide to do with their names.

[diva77]

5. Trader Joe's should rethink where it will and won't open stores if they want to be more PC

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=13781762

[catrose]

6. Paul Krugman said he wouldn't like to see Kosher products labeled Trader Hymie's

But I think Hymie is a racist term? José and Ming don't strike me that way at all, just as names from another culture. So if someone would like to explain without screaming, I'd like to know what's racist about it so that I don't make the same mistake. As long as there's been marketing, company's have been giving their products names meant to describe and allure.

[LeftInTX]

7. I like Trader Jose

It is literally Trader Joe anyway.

We still have Juan Valdez running around with his donkey, hawking coffee!!

[SunSeeker]

27. The explanation is in the article.

In a nutshell, it reinforces the stereotype of these ethnic groups as "exotic," i.e. not normal.

I get it. I always thought it was weird how they'd brand certain things Trader Jose or Trader Ming instead of Trader Joe. I know they were trying to be humorous. But if it is at the expense of inclusiveness, then drop it, just make everything Trader Joe. People of Chinese or Mexican heritage are just as American and "the norm" as an Anglo-Saxon white guy named Joe.

Sure, it's not the most racist thing going on in the world. Even the person who started the Change.org petition about it acknowledges that. But as she correctly notes, these tiny daily insults add up.

What I don't get is why some people are so butthurt about Trader Joe's dropping this naming scheme. As the article says, they've been planning to drop it for years.

[SharonClark]

60. Hymie is a derogatory term like Trader WOP would be for Italian food.

But that's not what TJ is doing. I'm flummoxed how Jose, Ming, and Giotto have become negative names.

I don't have my panties in a twist over this and TJ can renamed their products however they see fit but the Change petition was silly. Sometimes liberals try too hard to be offended.

[skypilot]

61. panties in a twist

Sexist!!!

[cos dem]

8. Next up, Chef Boyardee.

[LeftInTX]

9. LOL

[diva77]

10. He was a real person who sold his line of products.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ettore_Boiardi

[Sherman A1]

23. Precisely

Amazing that some folks don’t know that.

[Harker]

24. Love the phonetic hat.

He must have heard some awful butcherings (so to speak) of Boiardi.

[MontanaMama]

11. Seriously have tears of laughter

streaming down my face...Chef Boyardee!

[ucrdem]

15. but children love it!

[milestogo]

16. or mrs pauls

[iluvtennis]

12. I've always thought the naming was cute and fun and think that was intention. but if some

find it offensive, I'm okay to have TJ's change it.

[mr_lebowski]

14. This is going to ridiculous extremes ...

MHO, when you take being PC this far, it undermines the whole idea and subjects it to ridicule.

Then again, this is a giant corporation, I'm sure they've carefully calculated the $$$ involved and decided this is a smart economic decision.

[BigmanPigman]

18. At first I said, "That can't be Trader Joe's, there's no line of 30 people

waiting to get in" then I saw that it was taken on Feb. 26 (before people took Covid seriously).

[ibegurpard]

19. Why would anyone have a problem with them doing this?

The replies to this...

[janterry]

21. because it is not based in objective reality

n/t

[SunSeeker]

28. It is based in objective reality.

They've been planning the change for years.

[janterry]

31. Show me the data

the complaints, from whom, why.

Data, please.

[SunSeeker]

32. Read the article, please. nt

[janterry]

33. change dot org is not data

I'm sure that's a comfort for some. It does not suit my preference for objective facts.

[SunSeeker]

35. Yes it is. Others' "comfort" is just as objective as what "suits" your "preference."

Trader Joe's is acting based on the Change.org petition and years long efforts to make their stores more inclusive. I find it really odd that some people are so invested in these old marketing labels, particularly when some people find them offensive.

[Devil Child]

40. A petition with a staggering 3400ish signatures

[SunSeeker]

49. How dare they matter more than the folks who like ethnic joke names for Trader Joe's!

[Devil Child]

50. They don't matter to me. They are an implacable outrage mob.

Let them manage their own emotional responses to the trauma of reading the words “Trader Jose.”

[SunSeeker]

51. Why are YOU so outraged by this? Why are you so invested in having your tamales say Trader Jose?

[Happy Hoosier]

53. Are you the arbiter of that? NT

[SunSeeker]

29. Yes, some of the replies to this thread are depressing.

We still have a long way to go.

[JonLP24]

30. It isn't unexpected

It seems people don't understand why there are changes like this after George Floyd protests. I have seen a lot of outrage & jokes over companies changing their names but they seem to get it. They are trying to address microaggressions.

I agree DU has a long way to go.

I almost didn't click on thread because I knew what the replies would be like. I wouldn't even bother posting a story like this at DU.

[SunSeeker]

34. Yes, I once posted an article about Land O' Lakes dropping the kneeling "Indian maiden."

I thought I'd get a few "Good" and "About time" replies and that's it. But no, the outrage over the change was mind-boggling.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/11911651

And this is supposed to be a progressive discussion board. SMH.

[janterry]

20. Do the Italians, Chinese, or Mexicans have a problem with these names?

Or Italian Americans, Chinese Americans or Mexican Americans

or is this from some folks who THINK they would have a problem with these names?

Postmodernism run amuck.

[catsudon]

44. im asian

I have no problem with trader mings, and i certainly dont need any non-asians to tell me i should be offended by it.

i dont want to see products all have white people on the label.

time is better use on getting rid of re-pukes

[skypilot]

46. i dont want to see products all have white people on the label

This reminds me of a post I saw on Twitter about all of this. I'm paraphrasing but it said something like:

Only when all products have the names and faces of white people on them will we have achieved full racial equality.

[Happy Hoosier]

54. WTF does this have to do with Postmodernistsm?

Right Wing bullshit talking point.

[Sherman A1]

22. Good

These products should have never been named what they were from the start. This move is long overdue.

[DonaldsRump]

25. Well, it could have been worse.

If a certain impeached, non-billionaire, multi-bankrupt person owned it, it might have been called Traitor Don's?

[Harker]

26. Next up...

Last edited Tue Jul 21, 2020, 11:56 AM - Edit history (1)

the ethnic variations on the Newman's Own labels.

I'm all for correcting egregious mistakes, but I don't think the world would be a very interesting place without ethnic and cultural differences, and the celebration thereof.

It's about respect.

[Always Randy]

36. Trader Joe's credentials are impeccable

and this is a good business move--none of their customers will boycott them for doing this--and in the long run they receive little criticism---they are responsive and preemptive---shopping there now during Covid shows that they are on top of this and have set a national model. When there is something wrong going on I try to see what are the 'smart" people doing about it----TJ's--Costco---Apple---REI-----these are businesses that have earned my loyalty and respect, so when i am looking for answer they are a good source----I

I DID enjoy to different ethnic names as a play on words ----but my if it meant hurting anyone's senses or good feeling about these companies I'm with the caution----

[IronLionZion]

37. Soy milk can be labeled Trader Karens

[muriel_volestrangler]

38. Surely the Italian for Joseph is Giuseppe?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe

Sometimes shortened to 'Beppe' and others, but not Giotto as far as I can tell - Giotto basically being the Italian painter of that name.

"Most authors accept that Giotto was his real name, but it is likely to have been an abbreviation of Ambrogio (Ambrogiotto) or Angelo (Angelotto)" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giotto

[Igel]

41. But the first syllable of "Giotto" is "Joe". n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

43. It's a short 'o', surely, like 'jot', not 'Joe' (nt)

[Harker]

48. It is.

But Giotto (Joe-toe, roughly) carries the original name better.

I guess.

ETA:. Sorry to be late. An Italian whom I know pronounces his name 'Gianni' very much like 'Johnny' but would pronounce 'Giotto' more like 'Jaw-toe.'

[Devil Child]

39. With this stunning and brave move Trader Joe's has ended racism.

[Igel]

42. Systematically.

Ming's Cafe (a couple of miles from where I live) will either melt or be firebombed for the incredible racism it imposes on the surrounding community.

It's run by an immigrant Chinese couple.

[Devil Child]

45. Cafe!? I sure hope they are French-Chinese or that's cultural appropriation!

Time to start a change.org petition!

[Steelrolled]

47. It's sometimes a little shocking

to hear immigrants use stereotypes about their own race/nationality/religion/etc in a very matter-of-fact way.

[catsudon]

52. how is "trader mings"

well, i just don't see it as a sterotype.

hell, if they name it trader chans, i'd be proud to tell people that is named after me


i can't speak for trader joses because i dont want to speak for Hispanics

[Steelrolled]

55. I'm with you.

I don't get it either.

[question everything]

58. Has everyone gone mad? On my way to TJ now

[Steelrolled]

59. We won't hold it against you

Just shield your eyes from the racist product names and you'll be OK. /s

[GulfCoast66]

62. Well, if I'm selling a taco, I'm thinking calling it Joes Taco will have less appeal.

If selling Italian food, I doubt I’m gonna call it Svens ravioli.

I really don’t care one way or another. I’m a white guy so I really have no clue. I thinking we white folks should not be the arbiters of what other ethic groups or people of different races find offensive. In fact, when white folks get up in arms about ‘offensives’ that the supposed offended don’t give a shit about it is the very definition of pandering.

I’m well acquainted with a Mexican immigrant that owns a very successful Mexican restaurant named after a Spanish saint but is obviously Mexican. It’s not his name. I guess he thought it would be more success than naming his Mexican restaurant San Fred’s.