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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Cosmetics |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Headquarters | Holon, Israel |
| Number of employees | 200 |
| Website | http://www.ahava.com/ |
Ahava (Template:Lang-he) (lit. Love) is an Israeli cosmetics company that manufactures skin-care products made of mud and mineral-based compounds from the Dead Sea.
History
Dead Sea Laboratories (DSL), the company that manufactures Ahava products, was established in Israel in 1988 by three kibbutzim adjacent to the Dead Sea in the West Bank and Israel. The company is now co-owned by Gaon Holdings, one of Israel's largest holding companies. Ahava exports to over thirty countries worldwide, and exports account for 60% its sales. Ahava products, popular with tourists, are available in shops all over Israel, with an outlet store at the foot of Masada.
Ahava's shareholders include Mitzpe Shalem cooperative community (41 percent); Hamashbir Holdings and Gaon Holdings (41 percent); Ein Gedi and Kalya (18 percent). In 2009 Ahava took on new shareholder Shamrock Holdings, the Walt Disney Family's investment arm, which purchashed 20% of Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories from its existing shareholders. The main manufacturing plant and showroom is at Mitzpe Shalem, an Israeli settlement and cooperative community on the Dead Sea coast, within the territory occupied by Israel since 1967. The company's administrative headquarters is located in Holon.
Ahava products are based on the belief that minerals have an extraordinary capacity to act as "intercellular messengers," transmitting information to skin cells and impacting positively on their health and vital functions. The company believes that the black mineral mud on the shores of the Dead Sea has healing properties and beneficial effect on joint diseases and skin conditions. According to the company, it is made of layers of sedimentary clay formed over thousands of years and contains a very high concentration of minerals, which Ahava products use to promote skin health.
Ahava's Dermud series for dry and sensitive skin includes hand cream, foot cream, facial cleanser, body milk, facial nourishing cream, facial moisturizer, moisturizing shower cream and body cream.
Controversy
In 2007, TV actress Kristin Davis signed on as a spokeswoman for Ahava cosmetics, generating criticism from Oxfam. Boycott campaigns have been organized by several organizations such as Code Pink, which says " products actually come from stolen Palestinian natural resources in the occupied territory of the Palestinian West Bank, and are produced in the illegal settlement of Mitzpe Shalem." In response, the company stated that: "the mud and materials used in Ahava cosmetics products...are mined in the Israeli part of the Dead Sea" and that the Mitzpe Shalem kibbutz where the products are produced: "is not an illegal settlement." The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this. In January 2011, leading UK department store John Lewis announced that it had stopped stocking Ahava products. Claims that this was in response to the international campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel have been denied by the company.
References
- ^ Greer Fay Cashman (January 3, 2008). "MarketWise". The Jerusalem Post.
- "PrivCo Private Company Research Report: Ahava". PrivCo.com. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
- Neuman, Efrat. "Will the British buy love from the Dead Sea?". Haaretz. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
- Neuman, Efrat. "Will the British buy love from the Dead Sea?". Haaretz. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
- "WN.com". WN.com. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
- Adam Keller (November 17, 2009). "Gush Shalom to Ahava directors: read the writing on the wall – get out of the Occupied Territories" (Press release). Gush Shalom. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
- Neuman, Efrat. "From Israel with Ahava". Haaretz. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
- ^ "AHAVA – Dead Sea Laboratories – The Official Ahava website". Ahava. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
- E.B. Solomont (2009-08-07). "'Charlotte' gets no love for Ahava". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
- "Code Pink protest calls for Ahava boycott". Ynet News. July 30, 2009. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
- "Pro-Israel shoppers defy Ahava products boycott call". The Jerusalem Post. July 25, 2010.
- "The Geneva Convention". BBC News. 10 December 2009.
- "John Lewis bans products from illegal settlements in Holy Land". Independent Catholic News. 2011-01-16. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
- Sabel, Robbie (2011-01-16). "British retailer denies boycotting Israeli cosmetics". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
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