1. Seacret- minerals from the dead sea, retrieved from: http://www.seacretspa.com/dead-sea-minerals

2. Israeli water authority, retrieved from : http://www.water.gov.il/Hebrew/Water-Environment/Dead-                                  Sea/Pages/default.aspx

3. Al- Khalidi, S. (2015, February 26). Jordan, Israel agree $900 million Red Sea-Dead Sea project. Retrieved from                http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/26/us-mideast-economy-water-idUSKBN0LU23Z20150226

4. T, C., M, H., T, R., & A, I. (2011). Dead Sea climatotherapy for vitiligo: A retrospective study of 436 patients.                        Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology & Venereology, 25(8), 959-963.

5. Toegel, G. (2011, February 18). Disappointing Statistics, Positive Outlook. Retrieved from                                                          http://www.forbes.com/2011/02/18/women-business-management-forbes-woman-leadership-corporate-                    boards.html

6. Sela, R. (2012, October 9). Cosmetics company Ahava has rented the services of Goldman Zachs to promote its                  sales (translated). Retrieved from http://www.bizportal.co.il/general/news/article/334140

Photos

1. Kuznetsov Dmitry, (2012, Decembeer 16), Dead Sea, [digital image]. Retrieved from:                                                                   https://www.flickr.com/photos/dmitryk68/8277795405/in/photostream/

2. [digital image] Retrieved from: http://bphirsh.com/travels/middle-east/swimming-in-the-dead-sea/

3. Dey Sandip,(2012, June 7th), Marakkanam Salt Pans, [digital image]. Retrieved from:                                                                http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marakkanam_Salt_Pans.JPG

4. Dead Sea’s Level, [digital image] Retrieved from:                                                                                                                                      http://www.water.gov.il/Hebrew/Water-Environment/Dead-Sea/Pages/default.aspx

5. Heidi Hansen,Sinkholes along the Dead Sea [digital image] Retrieved from:          http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/moment/2013/09/the_dead_sea_is_dying_how_sinkholes_ha               bitat_destruction_and_low_water_levels.html

6. Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing, [digital image] Retrieved from: https://www.fitnyc.edu/2018.asp

7. Sembene McFarland, [digital image] Retrieved from: http://loltrap.com/black-woman-with-vitiligo-by-sembene-                  mcfarland_12776.html

8. China Daily Europe,(2014, November 7th), [digital image] Retrieved from:                                                                                        http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2014-11/07/content_18883314.htm

9. (2013, November 16th) ,Jump on the kart? how much will you earn from sales in the malls abroad (translated),                   [digital image]. Retrieved from: http://www.calcalist.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3617011,00.html

10. Bajed Medra,( 2011,June 18th), Why has USA rejected my visa if it claims freedom of speech!,[digital image],                      retrieved from: http://awmwc.net/2011/06/18/why-has-usa-rejected-my-visa-if-it-claims-freedom-of-                          speech/

11. 10 Major Mistakes to Avoid When You Buy Makeup, [digital image]. Retrieved from:                                                                  http://www.womansday.com/style/beauty/g1297/makeup-mistakes/?slide=1

12. Bob, ( 2010,  March 27th), Pickets against Ahava build momentum, [digital image] Retrieved from:                                        http://www.ism-london.org.uk/1088/

13. [digital image] Retrieved from: http://www.dead-sea-salt.com/aboutus.asp

Background photo [digital image] ,retrieved from :                                                                                                                                           http://compasstravelisrael.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Dead-Sea-3.jpg

The main consumers are mid-aged woman who use the cremes and soaps in order to make their skin more youthful and more attractive, some of the products which they are using are mud masks which absorb all the dirt and fat from the skin and moisturizer which helps bring the skin more glamorous look. The second group which uses the products is the “Ill” who need to consume medication which are being produced from the Dead Sea. As mentioned before, it is scientifically proven that the Dead Sea can cure variety of Dermatological and Rheumatically daises or at least relief the symptoms.

Nowadays with the progress in the 21st century the man doesn’t need to be a macho any more, but a metro-sexual man who takes care of him self and way he looks is becoming more socially acceptable. The market will Develop into different audiences. Beside approaching a new gender, the companies might also introduce themselves to new nations such as Asians. New markets will demand new adaptations and new products due to the cultural differences and demands,and especially lower prices in poor countries to reach and benefit the not so well paid. The Asian market is still doesn’t have a big part in the market but it will grow bigger, as it slowly adapts the western aspects of beauty.

Consuming the products from the Dead sea might be beneficial to the companies, but it is not the situation the the world’s wonder, the consistent extraction of its resources brings it to a no return point, when it will evaporate and all will left is a dry basin. An optional suggestion will be to promote the companies in devoting part of their profits in order to rebuild and reconstruct the beaches and the communities who work and support these factories. Second option would be to promote the arrival of tourists to The Dead Sea and by that developing the local tourism and a minor benefit of buying those products in a cheap price before going home.

A man covered in mud.(13)

The Cosmetics companies are promoting its products in a variety of ways. The most known one is using models and celebrities in television. Every prospected buyer needs credentials that the product will be able to relief his Acne,Psoriasis or Arthritis. Thus, the consumer will seek for scientific and medical approval as demonstrated in section: “2. Research”. The factories and manufacturing companies offer their products as a wholesale, giving the opportunity to a person buy large stock of the special mud or sea salt, the prices which we are discussing may reach  up to thousands of dollars and the amounts are in barrels. Different option is selling the finished product in a small package ready to be consumed.

A major difference in the aimed market is between Israel and other countries ,mainly the western which promotes beauty and looks in significant importance. The market in Israel knows all about the beauty care products and even comes for a vacation in the resorts on the dead sea, which leads the acceptance of the products as folk,where you can buy those products in the local supermarket relatively in a low price.

On the contrary, in different countries abroad the main market is high socioeconomic market which mainly consists of well paid mid aged women. The beauty care products are marketed and considered as a privilege. Almost every large manufacturing company opened  its stores abroad and call themselves as boutiques.Being mainly built on expensive main boulevards in important cities around the world. Which lead to an increase of up to 4 times higher price. The western culture promotes “shopping” as a leisure activity which brings satisfaction and joy to the consumer. Leading to more chances a customer  will buy these boutique products. An Israeli website “Bizportal” (2012) stated that the largest company and producer of Dead Sea products “ahava” asked for help from the American company Goldman Sachs for help improving its market abroad. Since most of the profits for these companies arrive from abroad due to taxes and exchange rate, it seems like a smart step to do.

Illustration of a woman enjoying doing shopping.(11)

Selling Israeli Products abroad may sometimes lead to political conflicts. For example it is not rare to see Muslim and pro -Arab protesters near such store claiming to Boycott the products. Their main argument is that Israel is using other people’s resources and preventing them getting the profit. However, The Palestinian autonomy has its own part of the Dead sea and they can produce their own products. So those protests and violent conflicts serve only political purpose.

A protest outside of “Ahava” beauty care store.(12)

Finally we have the product, but who will hold the job of putting it in people’s hands? A major discussion is occurring in Israel. After the young male and female being dismissed from a mandatory service in Israel, the need to take control on their future but also to get to see the world a bit, so what would be the best way to do it if not combine both? Many recruitment are happening in Israel looking for young motivated and charismatic sellers to work in a kart at a mall abroad. However, this Supposedly “Dream Job” has its bad sides as well.

Worker sells cosmetics on a kart abroad.(9)

Everyone know that the U.S has probably the most strict rules regarding immigration and living, so every foreign resident who wishes to work in the U.S has to have a working visa. But the recruiting companies are not always telling this important fact of the story, and misleading the innocent youth that they will be able to work with a tourist visa, and even if they will get caught nothing will happen because they are not the top priority of the police. in the past few years this phenomenon grew up in to a large scale industry operating not only in the U.S but also Australia Britain and every country which making large amounts of money is possible.

Apparently the local immigration police is doing there important job and putting its hands on many illegal workers, sending them home, or even worse a fine with a black stamp in the passport which means that they are not allowed to enter the country. Even though the U.S and Israel have strong political connections the U.S still demands a visa for Israelis.As mentioned above, this large scale phenomenon even caused the embassy not giving every young person who sincerely wishes to travel the country a visitor visa because many others have misused it.

An Israeli who has been banned from visiting the U.S.(10)

After the factories got the sheet with the needed data and information needed to produce the Cosmetics product, they put it on the manufacturing line. In order to get the precise amounts of ingredients in each product the production line is mainly automated and barely demands any human intervention. This phase has the lowest amount of work needed for humans,mainly because today all the factories are  modern and mechanized, leaving not many options for the uneducated people to work at.  After the product is being formed in either the state of solid or liquid soap, mud or shampoo it is being packed and labeled. Almost every consumer is looking for the label “FDA approved” which means that the product has been approved as safe to use, it causes the factories to hold a group of workers who check the quality of the product, either damaged or expired.

Women working at the production line.(8)

In the process where it is required an intervention of the human hand it is mainly for simple work as packaging. The locals who work in those “simple” works of packaging and quality control are local residents of the Dead Sea villages and mainly women who don’t have many other options to work at , since The Dead sea doesn’t have major cities. On the Contrary, the professionals who work as scientists and production managers are mainly highly educated man with a high socioeconomic status who live in expensive villages surrounding the Dead Sea(” Toegel G, 2011″).

Before the final product is being put on the production line, the companies evaluate the needed amounts and characteristics which will be used in the  final product. Many scientists such as: chemists and Dermatologists work in the lab to know more about the minerals’ features and how they can be improved. Whether the product needs to treat Psoriasis on the patient’s hands or a creme to relief a mid aged woman’s’ wrinkles on face, both procedures demand a lot of work and investment.

Scientist in a cosmetics laboratory (6)

Some of the scientists have proved the benefits of the dead sea in treating diseases, for example The medical article “Dead Sea climatotherapy for vitiligo: a retrospective study of 436 patients” by Czarnowicki ,Harari ,Ruzicka and ingber (2011): discusses how different patients from Germany who suffer from the disease of Vitiligo were treated in the Dead Sea, and around 85% of patients showed improvement in the disease. Vitiligo  is a chronic disease which causes the lose of pigments in skin, thus, it causes a patient to have different colors of skin. A famous person who suffered from this disease was Michael Jackson.  This Medical publication from out of the countries who hold the Dead Sea (Israel and Jordan) contributes to development of the “Treatment Tourism”,  Which proves the note that the healing abilities are world renowned and not a scam to attract tourists.Finally, after the patients return back home there is always the option of the return of the disease, so the best option for them will be to consume the Cosmetics products from the Dead Sea and keep “sending” money to the industry.

A woman who suffers from Vitiligo disease.(7)

Researches have also proved that a mineral which is called Magnesium is highly beneficial to treat skin problems such as: acne- A problem which many teens suffer from and may lead to low self esteem. Removal of wrinkles is also a problem which the minerals are able to solve, by improving blood circulation and improving amounts of collagen in the skin. In conclusion, Before actually starting to produce the product, the factories rely on the scientists job of what is going to work and how should it be produced, the support of the medical and scientific community worldwide also contributes to the promotion of these products and a proof that the treatment really works.

The first action the factories are taking is extracting the minerals and mud from the sea. The factories are building small shallow pools on the southern part of the sea. The Sea has become separated into two parts connected by a small water pass due to an overuse and evaporation of its water. The southern Part is more preferable to build those pools since the natural physical characteristics don’t require as much work as in the northern part.

Illustration of how a worker in India extracts extract the salts from the slat pans.(3)

A description on how the Mud is being naturally produced by the website “Seacret”: “The mud is produced from the banks of the Dead Sea has become famous around the world because of its healing capacities in stress relief, releasing painful muscles and healing rheumatic pains. The organic mud, black in color (which in its natural form is characterized by a sharp smell) is made up of layers of the mountain soil and silt from the waters of the Jordan River and the springs, and it has sunk deep into the lake”.  The strong smell is due to the high amounts of Sulfur, one of the many minerals in the area.Thea Dead sea has over 300 sunny days per year, along the hot climate and scarcity of rain in the desert bring the water to fast evaporation. This natural process saves the factories another step of extracting the minarets by saving them the time to artificially evaporate the water. All is left for the workers to do is bring a shovel and a bulldozer and bring the hard soil to the next step of processing.

However, There has been a bad side to this act of extraction which is overuse and degradation of the soil. The dead sea has lost almost 30 meters of its sea level for the past 40 years (“Israeli water authority”). The fast lose of the sea level is because Israel is using its main water drainage the “sea of Galilee” as a source of fresh water for the entire nation. The climate change bring less and less rain to the area to help rise its sea level.

source: Israeli water authority.(4)

When the soil loses its moisture it is left with high concentration of salts in it,thus, becomes dry, hard and breakable. It leads to another dangerous situation: the creating of sinkholes ,one can simply walk along the coast and fall dozens of feet down the earth,literally “being swallowed by the earth”. For the past 15 more than 1000 such sinkholes have been created and demanded the lives of several people. Nevertheless, there is a light point by the end of the tunnel, just few months ago Israel and Jordan have signed a a contract to revive the sea with an infrastructure which will bring fresh water from the Red sea from the south to the Dead sea in the North.(Suleiman Al-Khalidi,2015).

Sinkholes near the Dead Sea.(5)

The Dead Sea is an important source for cosmetics, and industrial products which are used for the chemical industry.

Important facts about the Dead Sea:

– It is located on the lowest point on earth on the Syro-African Depression, at -423 meters below sea level (-1388 feet).

– World’s second saltiest body of water with a concentration of salt 33.7%.

– The high concentration of salt enables each person to float without any effort.

– agriculture contributes up to 50% of the local economy,and 80% of the products are being exported overseas.

(“Dead sea wonder of nature”)

Among the chemicals which are being produced from the local factories are :”Potash” and “Bromine”. Both chemicals are being used in the agriculture as fertilizers and pesticides.

The second industry which uses its precious minerals is the beauty and health care industry, which produces a variety of cosmetics such as: cremes, soaps and mud which were scientifically proven to alleviate dermatological diseases. The precious minerals are being produced in shallow pools within the fast evaporating water due to the high temperatures in the area. The Sea has around 26 different beneficial minerals, which among them 12 are unique to the Dead Sea,and cannot be found in any other water source around the world. (“Seacret-minerals from the Dead Sea”).