If you are a teenager, hats off for taking out some time from your exciting life and reading this. If you are past your teen years though, then you might have either bought a diamond (diamonds if you are not in the field of medical research), or received one at some point in your life. There are many gems that have been the source of vanity for people since… well pretty much since we found these mesmerizing stones, and also since we developed a dazzling way to flaunt the extent of our material possessions. But few gemstones are as symbolic and dominant in people’s minds as diamonds.
When we think of diamonds, we think of rare and valuable. It is the echelon symbol of love and has become a part of many celebratory life events. Without a big fat diamond ring, an engagement loses all credibility. Because evidently, simply making a commitment to share one’s entire life with someone is not making much of a statement in itself. Take that you crazy, monogamous, romantic, hippie bastard!
Diamond trade has become a multi billion-dollar industry with annual retail market of $72 billion just in the US. The design and craftsmanship involved in making diamond jewelry is certainly exceptional and admirable, and to pay for that can be justified. But since when did the authenticity of a loving relationship equate to how big of a diamond one can give or receive? And are diamonds genuinely more precious than other gemstones to justify the added cost?
In its basic form, a diamond is nothing more than the chemical element carbon—just like the graphite we see in pencils. But unlike graphite, a diamond has the carbon atoms in the most concentrated form, giving it a very hard (in fact, the hardest substance found in nature), crystal-like structure. Diamonds are formed when tremendous amount of pressure is applied to carbon at very high temperatures. Just like a loving man is formed when tremendous amount of pressure is applied on a guy to buy a diamond ring. Such conditions cannot be created artificially but do occur in nature at hundreds of miles below the Earth’s surface. Due to the time it takes for the overall process, most of the diamonds we see today were formed millions (and billions) of years ago and were brought to the surface by volcanic eruptions.
Diamonds are mined all over the world including Brazil, Canada, Russia, Australia and many parts of Africa, before making it to the elegant jewelry stores. Refined diamonds are usually distinguished using the four Cs – cut, clarity, colour and carat. As we all have heard before, the more the carats, the better for the eyes. If one wants a diamond with high points in all the four categories, the unfortunate soul will have to cough up good amount of green to purchase it. May be that’s what the girl from The Exorcist really wanted. Now we all have come across people who seem to be actually possessed by the power of diamonds. But how did diamonds rise to such a level of fame?
With the help of the prominent ad agency N. W. Ayer, De Beers launched a well-orchestrated marketing campaign in 1938 within the United States, as the tradition of a diamond engagement ring was gaining traction here compared to rest of the world. Diamonds were presented (with subtly) as a symbol of indestructible love in movies, magazines, newspaper ads, radio programs, and any media outlet that was available.
Diamond rings were also flaunted by paid movie actors, celebrities, socialites, wives and daughters of political leaders – all romanticizing the stone and reinforcing the perceived eternal emotional value associated with it. With resurgence in sales, De Beers and N.W. Ayer ultimately cemented the illusionary relationship between diamonds and eternal love in 1947 with one of the most successful ad slogans in the past century – “A Diamond is forever”.
The celebrity status a diamond enjoys today is not a coincidence or a matter of luck – nor did it “accidentally” release a sex tape. Diamonds were relatively rare – up until 1870s, when huge diamond mines were discovered in South Africa and the overall annual production of diamonds literally increased from a few pounds to tonnes. Since diamonds do not have much of an intrinsic value, their pricing was always primarily based on their scarcity. The investors in the mines recognized the inevitable crisis and decided to merge into a single entity that could control the supply and protect the false perception of rarity of diamonds.
And so, in 1888 the giant conglomerate De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd was formed in South Africa, using different subsidiary companies to control the international diamond market throughout Europe. With the explosion in production, sustaining the illusion of diamonds being rare wasn’t enough. So De Beers decided to transform the stones into a symbol of love, wealth and power to increase the demand.
The slogan—which became their official motto—reinforced the psychological necessity of diamonds to commemorate romantic courtships and convinced people that diamonds are to be kept forever and not to be resold. They should be locked away in safe-deposit boxes or cherished forever as family heirlooms. Safe from consumers selling their diamonds and flooding the market, De Fuckérs could continue selling new diamonds from their mines to millions of young couples eager to borrow money and legitimize their love. Over the following decades, they came up with a variety of campaigns to generate new types of demand and sold diamonds of all shapes and sizes: from a second diamond in later years of marriage, expressing “ever-growing love” to eternity rings – diamond was pitched as the only appropriate gift to the ever gullible, conforming consumers.
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With the help of N. W. Ayer in the US and J. Walter Thompson agency for the international market, De Beers succeeded beyond even their own grand expectations. By the mid 1970s, this diamond cartel had successfully internationalized the “diamond invention” and created a billion-dollar market in Japan too, where gold and jade initially ruled as the symbols of love and affection. The diamond invention is so strongly embedded in the present culture that it seems like smooth sailing for De Beers for at least a few decades to come. People wholeheartedly accept the notion of a diamond’s scarcity and its ability to retain monetary value. But to debunk this myth, one simply needs to walk in a jewelry store and try to sell a diamond.
Diamonds are hard by structure, but harder to sell because there is no aftermarket for it. Jewelry stores are seldom interested in buying back the diamonds they sell, simply because of the preposterous retail mark-up. Just like a brand new car, the price dramatically drops as soon as you are out of the showroom. As a result, apart from few exceptional cases, if one tries to sell a diamond, the not-so-poor soul will manage to get back only a fraction of the original price. That is, if he or she does manage to sell it at all.
For example, in 1978 the famous actress Elizabeth Taylor tried to sell her 69.42 carat diamond (ring turned into a necklace) through an auction, which was a gift from her previous husband Richard Burton. She started with a price tag of $4 million and did not find any takers – not even Michael Jackson. Ooh! Taylor eventually ended-up selling it for a little less than $2 million in 1979, which just about covered the price it took to insure the diamond for the years she owned it.
If selling diamonds was a disappointing experience for diamond owners, it was even worse for people who stole them. Again, apart from the genuinely rare & high quality stones, diamond thieves rarely get a payback that’s worth the effort. In the same year that Liz Taylor got rid of her pear-shaped diamond, the New York Police once recovered stolen diamonds that had an insured value of $50,000 – but was sold to a shady ‘fence’ (middle man between a robber and a potential buyer) for only $200. If only crime master GoGo would have realized this!!
Source: Academy of Motion Pictures of Arts and Science
Today, De Beers controls over two-thirds of the diamond market and spends millions of dollars to buy diamonds from other producers, just so they can sit on them and regulate the supply. A case can be made that any form of advertising is psychological manipulation at some level. But what De Beers has created in the past multiple decades cannot be credited only to smart and strategic advertising, but more so to outright lies and deceit. This morally bankrupt corporation counted on easy, emotional manipulation of consumers and we surely did not disappoint.
When we peel away the mythical layers of rarity, ever-lasting value, and symbolism for eternal love, we can actually see through the clear-cut, high-carat diamond for what it is – De Beers’ best friend. Diamonds are hard, sparkly, glittering pieces of carbon rock and nothing more. So who cares where the diamonds are or how many we can acquire or gift in a life time. Ownership of a high-quality, brilliantly cut, multiple-carat diamond does not represent passionate love, power, success, wealth or status. In actuality, it just shows that we were conned!
Sources and Interesting Links:
- Layton, J. “How Diamond Thieves Work”. How Stuff Works. Retrieved April 2012, from http://www.howstuffworks.com.
- Epstein, E. J. “Have you ever tried to sell a Diamond?”. The Atlantic. Retrieved May 2012, from http://www.theatlantic.com.
- Bonsor, K. and Keener, C. “How Diamonds Work”. How Stuff Works. Retrieved May 2012, from http://science.howstuffworks.com.
- http://www.turtleloveco.com.
- The Diamond Industry Fact Sheet. Retrieved May 2012, from http://www.worlddiamondcouncil.org.
- The Diamond Cartel – The Cartel isn’t forever. The Economist. 2004. Retrieved May 2012, from http://www.economist.com.
- De Beers settles price-fix charge. BBC News. 2004. Retrieved May 2012, from http://news.bbc.co.uk.
The Incredulous Hulk 
It was nice to read something “Hatke” from your normal writings:)
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