Traitor Joe's, a Site by Greenpeace Against Trader Joe's Seafood
The Trader Joe's pirate mascot seems like a pretty easy-going, Hawaiian shirt-wearing guy, until Greenpeace dubs him Traitor Joe. The environmental NGO has devoted a website to the grocery chain's greenwashing, or sneaky ways of marketing products as "green" and environmentally-friendly that aren't. This isn't a protest against pita chips or frozen dumplings—no, the campaign is targeting the red list seafood that Traitor Joe sells from his treasure chest (er, freezer case), singling out the Chilean sea bass and orange roughy.
Traitor Joe likes to get his message across in the form of karaoke and Twitter ("Arrrg, I'm at the Brooklyn Trader Joes selling delicious ocean destruction," he recently tweeted.) In response, the real Joe has stated: "We intend to use the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s science-based and research-backed 'Seafood Watch' recommendations to help with our seafood purchasing decisions."
In a world of Trader Joe's cult worship, it's interesting to see a campaign like this speak out against them. Especially when pirate talk is involved.
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15 Comments:
Isn't Trader Joe's generally pretty honest? Did they perhaps try just contacting their corporate offices and letting them know?
Or maybe I'm just brainwashed about Trader Joe's image like they intended.
wunami at 10:16PM on 07/25/09
Ok, Greenpeace is full of shit. Seriously. I work at one of the busiest Trader Joe's in the Chicagoland area and almost all of the items on their list is nonexistent at the store and other area stores. Monkfish? What? Orange Roughy? Huh? Red Snapper?? Nooo. They employ gullible college-aged youth to do the occasional "survey" outside our store. What they're actually doing is stopping customers in the parking lot to "warn" them about our seafood products. Customers have ask me personally about items that "those Greenpeace dudes" have mentioned. I've showed them the fish section and they end up walking away laughing . They're laughing at the fact that we don't carry the items on the red list. Store management has been supplied with the "red list" so we're very aware of the bug up GP's bootyhole. The "Traitor Joe's" site is misleading in that it also lists shrimp and Atlantic salmon, items not listed on the actual "red list".
GP mails us shit and actually prank calls our store (and others) with automated messages and songs. It's like, seriously, do better homework and stop wasting everyone's time.
Bonbons at 12:32AM on 07/26/09
PETA is the most hypocritical organization in the entire world. They will protest anyone and anything that doesn't fit into their world view. I wish they would stick to those that actually harm and kill animals for no purpose.
srfchf at 6:57AM on 07/26/09
We do have orange roughy at our local TJ.
Takat at 6:58AM on 07/26/09
If there was a Trader Joe's near me I'd live there. Went from living within a few miles of 2 TJs when I was living in Los Angeles, to none within 3 miles when I went to school in New York's Capital Region. Right now I'm in southeastern Connecticut and the closest one is about an hour away (road trip?).
Oh, yea, all those Greenpeace and PETA organizations suck. Also, I thought we could no longer call them "fish". Aren't they sea-kittens now?
PeteRepeat42 at 8:17AM on 07/26/09
Ok, but the one thing that I dislike about Trader Joe's is that they over-package their produce, which is unnecessary and environmentally destructive.
marchpane at 9:20AM on 07/26/09
Those are pretty expensive fish so I doubt that they are selling millions of pounds of them.
redfish at 10:34AM on 07/26/09
@wunami: Totally agree with you. Unless Greenpeace unsuccessfully tried to play fair and negotiate with the TJ corporate office, there was no reason for this smear campaign.
And why not pick a more treacherous target?
Susquehanna at 11:57AM on 07/26/09
*Yawn* greenwho?
Doctrine at 8:00PM on 07/26/09
Isnt it the consumers responsibility to buy sustainable fish? A conscientious consumer should know what to buy and what not to buy. TRADER JOE'S IS A BUSINESS! as much as they might be wonderful people and their piratey man might be super cool... they are still there to take your money.
Be an educated consumer.
engmcmuffin at 8:10PM on 07/26/09
I thought Chilean sea bass was ok to eat again.
yayfood at 10:50PM on 07/26/09
I'm with @engmcmuffin. it's about being a well informed consumer.
I try to follow this selector (yes, Chilean sea bass is still eco-worst)
http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1521
but in St. Louis seafood usually suck, so I tend to use other proteins.
hmw0029 at 10:04AM on 07/27/09
I for one am pretty psyched about this.
When a TJ's opened in my neighborhood i was exited to check it out, only to come home all disappointed by the seafood selection. COULD NOT BUY A SINGLE THING from their frozen seafood section. Everything is on the red list or at least the orange list. Even shrimp is from Thailand, which is known for poor harvesting/farming practices -- imported shrimp is on the red list, btw, so the TJ's employee who commented above saying that you don't even carry any of that stuff is way off. Its not like there's no shrimp available more locally than, say... half way around the world.
In any case, i came home and sent them a long email, to which they responded "we'll let our seafood buyer know of your concerns". I'm glad that they're changing their practices.
mh330 at 12:52PM on 07/27/09
At the Union Square location in NYC, Trader Joe's does carry Orange Roughy etc. That being said, Trader Joe's is careful about stocking only Alaskan Cod which is not endangered unlike it's Atlantic brethren. A lot, in fact most other grocery stores, don't label their cod as Atlantic or Pacific making it hard to make a conscientious choice.
I love the seafood at Trader Joe's and avoid the endangered stuff they have.
I'm sure some pressure from Green Peace & customers will encourage TJ's to improve their practices further. I'm hopeful the Traitor Joe's site will bring more awareness and help people make better choices.
mdnyc at 1:49PM on 07/27/09
I'm very happy about this, greenpeace were nice and lighthearted about it and made their point and I hope that trader joes will listen. I pretty much dont bother buying fish apart from the odd tin of kippers as its such a minefield!
jennywenny at 6:00PM on 07/27/09