Trader Joe’s Defends Product Labels Criticized as Racist

Earlier in July, however, Kenya Friend-Daniel, the company’s national director of public relations, said the company was in the process of updating labels to bear only the Trader Joe’s name.

“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,” the spokeswoman said in a statement on July 19. “With this in mind, we made the decision several years ago to use only the Trader Joe’s name on our products moving forward.”

On Saturday, she said that she had been referring to new products that the company introduced after 2017, not products that existed before then.

“We will continue to evaluate our products, as we always do, and if certain products/product packaging are not resonating well, changes will be made,” Ms. Friend-Daniel said.

Asked about the status of other product labels, Ms. Friend-Daniel said that “for the remaining products, we will change packages or discontinue products that do not resonate” with customers.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/01/us/trader-joes-jose-ming-joe-san.html