Trader Joe pulls ‘Trader Jose,’ ‘Trader Giotto’ after racism charges

Trader Jose and Trader Giotto are no more.

The popular grocery chain Trader Joe has admitted to insufficient sensitivity in its packaging.

About 1,500 people signed a Change.org petition denouncing the chain’s use of foreign names in its ethnic-foods branding — besides its Mexican and Italian products, its Chinese food is labeled “Trader Ming’s” and Middle Eastern food ”Arabian Joe” — as racist.

The hipster chain agreed, ABC News reported.

“While this approach to product naming may have been rooted in a lighthearted attempt at inclusiveness, we recognize that it may now have the opposite effect - one that is contrary to the welcoming, rewarding customer experience we strive to create every day,” spokeswoman Kenya Friend-Daniel said in a statement.

She also Trader Joe was reworking its product labeling long before California high school student Briones Bedell started the Change.org petition last week.

“We have been in the process of updating older labels and replacing any variations with the name Trader Joe’s, and we will continue to do so until we complete this important work,” Ms. Friend-Daniel said. 

The spokeswoman said the rebranding will be completed soon, but couldn’t give a precise date.

Miss Bedell claimed in her petition to “remove racist branding and packaging from its stores” that Trader Joe’s ethnic food labeling “belies [sic] a narrative of exoticism that perpetuates harmful stereotypes.”