Trader Joe's U-turns on renaming products deemed 'racist'

Trader Joe's isn't removing branding that was labeled 'racist' in a recent petition, despite earlier saying they recognize names such as Trader Ming's and Trader Jose may have had the 'opposite' effect of the 'welcoming customer experience' they strive for.

The petition was first launched in early July and has amassed more than 5,000 signatures, but after reports the company was rebranding the products, they have clarified that will not be the case.

'We disagree that any of these labels are racist. We do not make decisions based on petitions,' the brand wrote on its website.

'We make decisions based on what customers purchase, as well as the feedback we receive from our customers and Crew Members. If we feel there is need for change, we do not hesitate to take action.'

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/com...ducts-deemed-racist/ar-BB17nNyV?ocid=msedgntp

All I can say is Good for Trader Joe's. About time some company stood their ground.

 

Wow common sense prevails. Don’t these companies know most people don’t give a **** and lying down for these vocal SJWs is a Lose lose?

How many people seriously weren’t going to buy Aunt Jemima syrup or pancake mix anymore? Really how many? And how many Redskins fans were going to truly stop watching?

 

Guess you can’t be a Trader if you are named “Ming” or “Jose”

 

When we lived in CA and Vegas my wife would go to TJ's all the time. Great decision on their part.

ITS' ABOUT TIME SANE PEOPLE STOOD UP TO BULLIES.

 

I agree. If people find it offensive, they don't have to patronize their stores. Easy solution.

 

Gotta stand up to the Looney Tunes crew. Enough already!

 

It is genuinely funny watching all these people who insist that others shouldn't get emotionally invested in the names of consumer products getting emotionally invested in the names of consumer products. It is just as funny watching people who would happliy let companies do pretty much anything they want to workers, pollute the environment, & screw over local comunities etc suddenly decide that a business decision to change a product name is bad & evil.

Sorta like people who get angry at the 'politicization' of sport, but insist that the national anthem is sunge before every game & that people have to stand & remove their hats when it is done.

Its almost as if there were a double standard where the same behaviour is 'normal' when conservatives do it and the END OF THE WORLD when progressives do it. Imagine.

Personally I give not a stuff if a company chooses to keep or change a brand. Companies have a long history of using racial & ethnic images & stereotypes to sell products. They also have a long history of attaching themselves to people, causes & images that they think will help them make money. If they decide that using that stereotype poses a risk to sales or that embracing particular people. causes & ideas is good for business then they can change it. It isn't like this stuff is 'natural' or divinely ordained - it is business making money. I guess capitalism is only good when it doesn't trigger conservatives & send them sucrrying to their safe places.

 

What's interesting about your post is that you seem to believe it's just one company and a few products. What you're entirely missing is the culture of boycotts, cancelling, and sometimes destroying things the left finds offensive or racist, which is a lot.

How many things have the left cancelled just this year? Books, movies, TV shows, statues, flags, songs, videos, football mascots, Cops, Live PD, and so on, all in the name of political correctness and to make sure the mentally weak and gullible who wake up to whatever hate they're programmed to wake up to are not offended.

Wanna see a liberal literally lose his mind? Play reruns of I Dream Of Jeannie or F Troop. But of course, those shows have been culturally canceled and will probably never see the light of day again.

 

Names are now racist? What the actual hell is going on with this country
We were number one in just about everything now we have declining educational attainment, massive income inequality, unsustainable debt, a “president” that thinks he is on a reality tv show, failing healthcare and now names are racist...

2020 is a black hole

 

The really funny thing here is watching people like you decry a 'culture of offence', while acting precisely like the 'snowlflakes' you claim to oppose.

Someone took away my statue of a traitor who murdered Americans for slavery WAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Someone took away my racist consumer products that were created back when we didn't have to listen to the opinions of brown people WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
People are upset that police keep killing unarmed black men WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

There are literally no people on earth more easily triggred than conservative white American males. You guys wake up in the morning looking for something to be offended about and treat a world where any opinions that disagree with yours are treated seriously as 'tyranny' or.....whatever.

So, here's the thing. These are just consumer products created so people who would work you to death and bill your family to remove the body if the law allowed them can make their bank accounts bigger. That was true when the brands were created and it is true now. If you are emotionally attached to buying something with a grinning black face or sombrero wearing Mexican on it then I suggest you do what black people, Mexicans & others have been doing for generations - suck it up Princess.

The thing you are too busy being a victim to realize is just how small a bone these companies are throwing. Because so many of those tied up in 'cancel culture' can't work out the difference between word and action, big business is making some cosmetic changes to shut them up. Most of these activists think that changing a few brand names, running some anti-racism' seminars, screaming at people on facebook and getting some athletes to take a knee is actually change. Funny thing is to see so many conservatives being just as dumb.

Are there some potentially dangerous aspects of 'cancel culture'? You bet. Some of these activists are almost as authoritarian as the conservatives they oppose. Like Republicans, they know that democracy won't work for them, so they seek ways (different ones) to bypass it. In particular they look to silence opposing voices. I don't know if it made the right wing sources you gorge yourself on, but a bunch of 'liberals' signed a big public letter opposing that a few weeks back. While you & your friends are whining about consumer products high profile 'liberals' are actually fighthing important battles. No real surprises there. You are literally the very thing you claim to hate, you are just too triggered to see it.

Oh, and nobody I know gives a damn about F Troop or I Dream of Jeannie. You can watch them with a few keystrokes. In fact, the guy who owns the Washington Post is streaming them for you. Looks like your sense of victimhood has become so inflated you are just making stuff up now.....or should I say, once again.

 

GOOD. DON’T GIVE THE NAZI CULTURE KILLERS AN INCH: Trader Joe’s Mans the Ramparts After All.

 

Racism is a series of thoughts some people have.

These thoughts can be rational or irrational based on the topic at hand.

The bottom line is that they are their thoughts and unless acted upon criminally are no one else’s business.

 

Liberals are upset that police are enforcing the law
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Liberals are upset people can have different opinions about what statues represent
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Liberals are upset that black people are arrested more because they commit more crime
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

the left is silly as hell. Someone from 200 years ago says something racist, and you guys want to label them as a villain instead of honor the good they did.
Case in point, John Muir.

 

Businesses have the right to enforce whatever silly ephemeral policy is popular at the moment and the right not to.

The end game here from the PC folk is to eliminate free speech that offends them by attrition.

Mere racist thinking that is not acted upon through violence or other criminal mischief is thought. To proceed further judicially with criminal charges is therefore by definition thoughtcrime.

Freedom is slavery. Where have I heard that before?

 

Until the molotov cocktails.start flying.

 

It surprises me that anybody cares about any of this, either way.

 

American universities are the worst offenders. Today they shut down views from the right but just a few decades ago they shut down views from the left.

Given that most are state funded, this truly borders on US government shutdown on free speech in the very marketplace that should most honor robust debate.

Unless one is studying science or engineering one cannot properly say they are getting an education in the American university system but rather indoctrination.

 

Anything you do in life comes with risk; you have to assess what you stand to gain as opposed to what you stand to lose.

 

You're kidding, right? You're accusing the right, specifically me, of waking up and being offended. Are you serious? This is exactly what the left does and they do it in spades. How many riots has the right caused? How many things has the right cancelled? You guys so badly want to find something offensive or racist that when I ask you to name a person, place or thing that isn't racist you guys won't answer because you have no idea of knowing if the coffee cup you're using today will be racist tomorrow.

Remember, you folks find math and grammar racist. Try as you might, you'll never be able to explain that away.

 

True. I just dont trust the crazy lefties and their violent rage filled activities. They are an embarrassment to civilization.

 

I alway thought this type of thing calling everything racist is so off in left field that it felt the Park as a foul ball.
There was a great meat market ( named Adolfs) that my parents and many of their friends who survived Garman Forced Labor camps shopped at. It was owned by a German born guy who came here between WWI and WWII. My Parents did not boycott his store because he was German. They had the BEST WURSTS , no not a typo or misspelling but as in bratwurst, leberwurst, blutwurst, headcheese( not a cheese at all) and good meats so German Americans and Eastern Europeans such as my parents patronized his store. I also went to school with his grand daughters.
As an older teen I asked my folks why did they shop at a German store. My dad said that the old man came here before the Nazis overran Germany. My dad reminded reminded me the Eisenhauer was of German ancestry. As was Admr Nimitz I believe.
And no we are not boycotting Goya not that we buy that much Goya except for their rice and I like their sardines which my wife runs the other way when when I open them.

But I still boycott 60'Minutes of Lies!

 

Well then, you have your answer.

 

‘A WIN FOR SANITY:’ Trader Joe’s Now Denies Being Racist. “Trader Joe’s panicked because somebody put up a silly petition calling them racists because they label their burritos ‘Trader Jose’s.’ Actual Trader Joe’s customers, the people who keep the store in business, let them know how crazy it was to give in to such ludicrous demands. Now the company has decided to just keep doing what they’re doing. Good for them.”

How the Media Uses Tiny Petitions To Make Leftist Positions Front-Page News: This weekend’s phony outrage at Trader Joe’s proves how outlets like the New York Times use ‘public pressure’ to make companies and politicians do what they want.

 

I'm keeping score. Rational people keep score, for when the confrontation comes.