Trader Joe’s Changes Ethnic Labels After Petition
The popular US grocery chain, Trader Joe’s, is being petitioned to change ethnic packaging from their products, which the petitioners deem to be racist. By Saturday, the Change.org online petition had collected over 840 signatures asking Trader Joe’s to modify some of its labeling they deem depictive of “harmful stereotypes.” Labels include Chinese food brand Trader Ming’s and Mexican food brand Trader José’s. The national chain stated it has already begun to make the necessary changes to phase out the brand names which they said were started as an attempt to be inclusive – but realize it may have given the opposite impression. They had already made a decision several years back to change the labeling and only use the main Trader Joe’s branding. They are currently in the process of bringing older labels up to date and substituting any off-shoot brand names with the main Trader Joe’s label. They have vowed to continue until the relabeling process is complete for all products.

Ann Sullivan is a contributing staff writer covering national and world news topics. She brings dedicated experience having written international and domestic news, blogs, and web content for over 20 years. She’s also a published poet and graphic designer with degrees in Business and Graphic Communications and has been a music distributor, music industry sponsorship sales director and band manager.