How did diamonds become the standard for engagement rings and jewelry?
The truth is that diamonds aren’t the rarest gemstone in the world. If that’s the case, then why are they so popular?..

Prior to the end of World War 1 in 1918, diamonds weren’t even in demand. Global economic strain from the war combined with the low value of diamonds didn’t make them an ideal product to market. In fact, proposing with an engagement ring wasn’t yet a widely adopted practice...

For most couples, it was far more realistic &affordable to buy 1 wedding band rather than 2 rings. Back then, diamonds didn’t represent forever, or anything remotely close to it. In fact, diamonds, as we know them, became the symbol of love through artful & strategic marketing...

In 1870, financiers funding the mining of massive diamond mines in South Africa struck big. Despite striking the motherlode of diamonds in South Africa, there simply wasn’t a market. Shocking, right? Well, how can you sell a product without demand?..

The brilliant match between one visionary - De Beers &an ad agency might even be more remarkable than the union of marriage itself. Well… not quite, but you get the idea...

You create a market. Still, De Beers Group couldn’t tackle this bold fete on its own. The company knew that if they wanted to bring diamonds into the hearts and homes of every family in the world, they’d have to partner with an ad agency powerhouse...

Thus, the union between De Beers and N.W. Ayer was born. From this partnership came two primary (albeit overambitious) goal:
To monopolize the diamond market and control the supply and demand across the globe...

Seem impossible? By all means, it should’ve been. The economy was in catastrophe from the war and people didn’t have enough money and little did they know then, but the Great Depression would shortly follow.

If insanity straddles brilliance, the De Beers ad campaign mounts it beautifully. De Beers built the largest diamond mine in South Africa at the time, and N.W. Ayer convinced people across the world that you couldn’t propose without a diamond engagement ring as an offering...

Why? Because:
“A Diamond Is Forever”
We’ve all heard the slogan, in fact, “a diamond is forever” isn’t just a brilliant slogan, it’s now a figure of speech. So, how did it get that way? For De Beers to actually pull this off,..

they needed to get diamonds into the most influential rooms in the world, and that just happened to be on the necks, ears, and fingers of Hollywood actresses...

Thanks to Marilyn Monroe’s iconic performance of Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, diamond popularity exploded. But selling diamonds wasn’t as glamorous as Hollywood depicted it to be...

De Beers controlled around 80% of the market supply of diamonds. After an 80 year monopoly, things started to change in the 20th century.
Are Diamonds Really Rare?..

there are A LOT of diamonds in the world. If there are so many, are diamonds really rare? It might shock you to learn this, but diamonds are one of the most popular and common gemstones on this earth.

If they weren’t, you wouldn’t see them flashing from the ring finger of nearly every married woman you know. Diamonds are less rare than sapphires, emeralds, and rubies, so why are they so expensive?..

Why Are Diamonds Expensive?
Ok, we’ve made it perfectly clear that diamonds aren’t rare, so why are they so expensive? On a value scale, diamonds are not only less rare than diamonds, rubies, and sapphires, but they are also less expensive per carat. Confused?..

Diamonds seem expensive because we often don’t compare them to other gemstones.

And that’s not the only reason. Products in the economy are valued by their demand, but sometimes rare gemstones are more expensive because, well, they are rare. ..

The story with diamonds is much different.
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but at what cost? As long as the public continues to value diamonds as the leading gemstone for engagement rings and jewelry, the prices will remain high. ..

You do not have to spend 2-6 months of your or your parents salary on a ring to propose to your girlfriend.
Lab grown diamonds are now so perfect at this point that De Beers is spending millions trying to figure out how to tell the difference...

And you might know the 4 C's of diamond,
cut
clarity
carat
color
and the 5th C is Conflict.
A lot of people have died mining this highly advertised and over rated piece of stone which is not so rare.
A lot of blood has been let before it reaches her finger...

It is simply not worth it.
Diamonds are forever is the biggest and most unalloyed BS of this century.

Thanks for reading.

#funtrivia