The Dead Sea... or is it?
Photo: Yaffa Raziel
Death doesn't sell
New initiative calls for changing Dead Sea's name, saying association with death is 'bad for business'
Several entrepreneurs in Israel, among them the owners of a company that manufactures cosmetics based on Dead Sea minerals, appealed to the Government Names Committee in an appeal to change the sea's name.
"Our clients from abroad are uncomfortable buying products that have originated in a place whose name is associated with death. It's problematic," said Moty Fridman, head of the Minus417 Dead Sea Cosmetics company.
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Prof. Moshe Brur, chairman of the Government Names Committee, said that the committee would meet at the beginning of November to consider the appeal.
In the event that the Names Committee agrees to the businessmen's appeal to change the name of the Dead Sea, the name will disappear from official state publications and from state maps.
At this date, no alternative names have been suggested. The Hebrew name for the sea is literally translated as the Sea of Salt.
The name Dead Sea is widely believed to have been coined in the writings of Roman scholar Pliny the Elder, in the first century.
According to a recent survey by the Geocartography Knowledge Group, 42.5% of respondents were in favor of changing the sea's name, while 52% were opposed.
