Thank the Bay for dropping Ahava products

UPDATE from Stolen Beauty Boycott
January 13, 2011

Yesterday was quite a lively day! On January 12th, representatives of Canadian retailer The Bay acknowledged that the chain was no longer carrying cosmetics products from the Israeli company Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories, but said the “de-listing” was purely a business decision and not in response to any organized boycott. Whatever the reason for the decision, we applaud the fact that The Bay will no longer be supporting Ahava and its occupation profiteering, and we want to thank them for taking this stand (or read below on instructions on sending support emails to the Bay).

In January 2011, Canadians for Just Peace in the Middle East selected Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories settlement products as their consumer boycott target for the month. Previously our allies at Tadamon had organized protest actions against Ahava at The Bay in Montreal.

In response to the announced CJPME month-long boycott of Ahava, a local coalition calling itself “Buycott Israel” called for January 11th to be a day on which its members would purchase Ahava products. When the “buycotters” arrived at The Bay’s retail outlets, they discovered that shelves were bare of Ahava.

Will you act now and send a thank you note to The Bay’s President and CEO Bonnie Brooks, Chairman Richard Baker, and Director of Beauty Products Shelley Rozenwald?

The Bay is under pressure to reinstate sales of Ahava. Whether or not they cave, this issue has attracted press and public attention and the boycott will keep building! Please send a letter of thanks to The Bay today!

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We have learned that in recent days Canadian retailer The Bay has discontinued sales of Ahava products and removed the products from their shelves. Canadian human rights activists, including our allies at Tadamon!, have had a campaign to ask The Bay to stop selling Ahava.

It is important that you take the time to thank The Bay for dropping Ahava. Your message of thanks is crucial as right-wing pro-occupation groups have already launched a campaign to berate and pressure The Bay to reinstate sales of Ahava. Codepink’s Stolen Beauty campaign has launched an online tool which makes it easy to send a message of support to Bay Chairman Baker, President and CEO Brooks, and Director Rozenwald. Send your message now!

You can also take the steps below to send a message of support!

1. Cut and paste the following emails into the To: field of your email program

richard.baker@hbc.com; bonnie.brooks@hbc.com; shelley.rozenwald@hbc.com

2. Enter “Thank you for dropping Ahava” or something similar into the Subject field of your email program.

3. Cut and paste the message below into the body of the email, and take a few minutes to personalize the message or right your own using the information below as a template.

Thank you for no longer carrying Ahava products. Whatever your reasons, your actions support human rights everywhere.

Ahava’s products are manufactured in the illegal settlement of Mitzpe Shalem in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank. Ahava is co-owned by two illegal settlements, Mitzpe Shalem and Kahlia, which are subsidized by the company’s profits. Ahava cosmetics are labeled ‘Products of Israel’ when in fact they are made in the West Bank.

The Dutch Foreign Minister has called for an investigation into Ahava; A British Minister of Parliament recently denounced Ahvava’s labeling practices as “fraudulent”; and the European Union recently handed down a decision that settlement products, such as Ahava, are not covered by trade agreements between the E.U. and Israel.

According to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, already 42% of the West Bank is consumed by the illegal settlement network, making a viable Palestinian state impossible. The settlements, including Mitzpe Shalem where Ahava is manufactured, are an impediment to peace.

So thank you for standing up for human rights and international law. We applaud you!

Sincerely,

4. Press send!

5. Use the share on Facebook or Twitter below to share this information with friends and encourage them to contact the Bay in support of the decision to drop Ahava products.

6. For additional impact you can also send snail mail support to the following addresses:

Richard Baker
The Hudson’s Bay Company
P.O. Box 223
Scarborough, ON M1K5C1
Canada

Bonnie Brooks
The Hudson’s Bay Company
P.O. Box 223
Scarborough, ON M1K5C1
Canada

Shelley Rozenwald
The Hudson’s Bay Company
P.O. Box 223
Scarborough, ON M1K5C1
Canada