January 17, 2011

Boycott Victory Update - Ahava is rebranding

You will find below two e-mails that are circulating in the pro-Israel
community regarding the B’nai Brith request to write to the Bay to complain
about the removal of Ahava products from their shelves.

It seems that B’nai Brith jumped to conclusions.  The Bay did not pull Ahava
because of BDS actions in Canada but because Ahava is being discontinued
GLOBALLY and is going to be relaunched at a later date.  Apparently Sears
has also pulled AHAVA from its shelves. 

So although this is not a BDS victory in Canada, it may well be a worldwide BDS victory;
the Ahava image is tainted.  The campaign against it has been so successful that
the distributor has to re-brand the product just like Israel is seeking to re-brand itself.

Thanks to all of those who wrote to the Bay.  I don’t think this effort was
wasted.  First of all, it was an opportunity to inform and state our
position in a positive message of praise rather than by criticizing.
Secondly, if a large number of people wrote, the Bay might consider the idea
that corporate ethics could impact sales.



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From: "Jack Kincler" mailto:jkincler@....net
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:29:13 -0500
To: mailto:leonard.wolman@pwgca.com
Subject: RE: Messages from Judy Feld Carr and Don Carr re: AHAVA Products

Hi Leonard,

Here is the latest FYI:

Dear friends,

I was in the middle of composing a stern e-mail to the Bay executives when I
received this e-mail below.

Please hold your horses. It seems to be purely a business decision and
nothing to do with any pressure boycott group.

In the future, before getting into a hysteric mode of response, we should be
checking the facts first. Mrs. Brooks, the President and CEO of the Bay is
obviously not very happy.

Please advise all your distribution lists as soon as possible to avoid
further embarrassment.

Best Regards,

Jacob Kincler


From: "Brooks, Bonnie" < mailto:bonnie.brooks@hbc.com bonnie.brooks@hbc.com
To: evelyn richman mailto:evrichman@r.....s.com
Sent: Wed, January 12, 2011 9:53:54 PM
Subject: RE: Ahava Products off the shelves

Please wait, your info is wrong. The brand in question, Ahava, has been
discontinued globally by the brand owner, not by The Bay. One of our
largest shareholders of the Hudson's Bay Trading Company is one of North
America's most significant Israel supporters, and our Governor along with
our Chief Beauty Merchant responsible for this product range, are both
Jewish. We do not discontinue products due to pressure from any source
other than our own decision based on either sales performance or product
quality. We are very concerned that we have received hundreds of emails
and negative customer reaction inside our stores, all due to the spreading
of incorrect information, which has upset our many customers, employees,
their families and the fashion industry who are supportive of Israel. We
would appreciate the parties involved in the protest, being set straight
as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Bonnie Brooks

Further explanation from The Bay posted on the Canada-Israel Committee website.

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