Blood Diamonds & Marriage

• Diamonds were not discovered until approximately 800BC in India
• Diamonds are made from pressed carbon and believed to have possessed magical powers.
• Diamond is derived from the Greek ‘adamas’ meaning unconquerable.
• The diamond engagement ring, became standard in the middle of the 20th century due to a fantastic marketing campaign (or a series of campaigns) conducted by a large diamond trader De Beers Group.  DeBeers Group and their slogan “a diamond is forever” became one of the most successful marketing campaigns in the history of the world.

Reality:  AMPUTATION IS FOREVER –Diamonds are not

• De Beers created an illusion of sentiment around these non-scarce stones that hindered the public from ever reselling them.
• "The illusion had to be created that diamonds were forever -- "forever" in the sense that they should never be resold."
• As of 1938 seventy five percent of De Beers's diamonds were sold for engagement rings in the United States.

This set the stage and reinforces the link between diamonds, romance, civil war and dismemberment in Sierra Leone.

The information provided above was provided from http://1personalgrowth.com/2008/03/the-history-of-diamond-engagement-rings/

According to Epstein (1982)

• As of 1941 the sale of diamonds had increased by 55 percent in the United States since 1938, reversing the previous downward trend in retail sales."

• De Beers's marketing company utilized Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class, which depicted Americans motivations for purchasing goods not by utility but by "conspicuous consumption."

• Diamonds were embedded in the American psyche as a symbol of personal and family success -- an expression of socio-economic achievement.

• Civil war in Sierra Leone was based on a theory of "conspicuous consumption" that fulfilled western greed instead of need.

• De Beers created this demand through force, extortion, colonization and now globalization.

The campaign to internationalize the diamond invention began in earnest in the mid-1960s

• J. Walter Thompson began its campaign by suggesting that diamonds were a visible sign of modern Western values.
• It created a series of color advertisements in Japanese magazines showing beautiful women displaying their diamond rings.
• All the women had Western facial features and wore European clothes. Moreover, the women in most of the advertisements were involved in some activity -- such as bicycling, camping, yachting, ocean swimming, or mountain climbing -- that defied Japanese traditions. In the background, there usually stood a Japanese man, also attired in fashionable European clothes. In addition, almost all of the automobiles, sporting equipment, and other artifacts in the picture were conspicuous foreign imports.

The message was clear: diamonds represent a sharp break with the Oriental past and a sign of entry into modern life.
The campaign was remarkably successful.

• Until1959, the importation of diamonds had not even been permitted by the postwar Japanese government.
• When the campaign began, in 1967, not quite 5 percent of engaged Japanese women received a diamond engagement ring.
• By 1972, the proportion had risen to 27 percent.
• By 1978, half of all Japanese women who were married wore a diamond; by 1981, some 60 percent of Japanese brides wore diamonds.
• In a mere fourteen years, the 1,500-year Japanese tradition had been radically revised.
• Diamonds became a staple of the Japanese marriage. Japan became the second largest market, after the United States, for the sale of diamond engagement rings.
• From 1971-1978 researchers found it almost impossible to resell their diamonds for ¾ of what they paid.  Diamonds do not go up in value they typically lose value.  The problem was the buyer, not the seller, determines the price.

“Diamonds – Forever now” is a slogan De Beers created for the perfect diamond engagement ring

Things you should think about:
"Imagine, if De Beers marketed to the bride on her wedding day, the precious truth about the gem resting on her finger. Perhaps, as she gazed down longingly at her shiny stone, she could be reminded that children under the age of ten were sent into mines under appalling conditions each day digging over a period of eight hours making less than 50 cents a day in order to feed their families.
Imagine if jewelers informed the groom before purchasing this precious gem for his lovely bride to be that whole families were wiped out, and many left behind mutilated and amputated, so they would never be able to work, again.
Do you think diamonds would be as precious to North American consumers if we actually told the truth behind their dazzling story? I wonder what the sale of diamonds would be and how these people would react to discover they were wearing a true symbol of death, the death of childhood, the death of families, the death of culture, and the eternal cycle of poverty (Epstein 1982).”
From a gendered the average man must feel tremendous pressure to purchase the most expensive, perfectly cut diamond for his loving bride. He is sure to be overwhelmed. Others believe that the marketing campaign for De Beers should be called “De Beers – Death, Poverty, and Despair,” If the average man is preparing to get married he must work himself to death, live in poverty and fear the fear of rejection if this worthless stone does not symbolize the love it is supposed to represent if he is unable to afford it. http://www.sprol.com/?p=293

According to Truong (2007).

• “It’s just marketing. The whole “A Diamond is Forever” and the idea of a diamond engagement ring is not an ancient tradition to be revered and followed.
• It is Sprite’s “Obey Your Thirst.” It is Nike’s “Just Do It.” It is Gary Dahl’s “Pet Rock.” Not only did De Beers understand it had to control supply (buying up and closing down any diamond mine discovered), they had to control demand."

• Marketing made diamonds sentimental and used American capitalism to create Americans as ease chumps.
• De Beers targeted the US specifically for their marketability.
• The De Beers marketing campaign is "less than 70 years old yet has become so ingrained in our culture that the diamond engagement ring has become the ultimate symbol of how much the relationship, the girl, and love itself is worth."

• "Who is the ring for, anyway? Seriously. As The Dilettante so poignantly put it, “For women, comparing jewelry is our phallic posturing contest: look at how big MY dic….er, I mean, diamond is.”

• Diamonds are flashy and fun, only for a few moments when attempting to show off. Once the stone has exhausted its moment of newness and look at me, there is little to show for the huge debt incurred for the shiny piece of rock.  Instead of wasting money on a shiny rock within the current economy money could be used to pay for gas (since gas prices are outrageous) or adopt an orphan from Sierra Leone that needs parents because your other diamonds created the war and resulted in the children losing their families and or limbs.

References

Truong, L. (2007) The greatest story ever sold is fantasy covered in blood. Retrieved March 24, 2008 from http://www.wisebread.com/the-greatest-story-ever-sold-is-a-fantasy-covered-in-blood

(2005). Blood diamonds: Every brides best friend. Worlds worst places. Sprol

(2008). History of diamond engagement rings. Retrieved April 14, 2008 from  http://1personalgrowth.com/2008/03/the-history-of-diamond-engagement-rings/

(N.D.) The history of diamond engagement ring. Retrieved: April 14, 2008 from http://www.refresharticles.com/articles/relationships/the_history_of_diamond_engagement.txt

Epstein, E. (1982) Have you ever tried to sell a diamond. Retrieved: March 26, 2008 from http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/198202/diamond