The tradition of gifting naturally-mined diamonds to our significant other to reflect our love for them was not created by our ancestors but instead by the creative marketing team at De Beers. Diamonds are an abundant but heavily regulated natural resource, not worth the heavy price tag or the blood shed at its expense. Social pressure has also instilled into us that naturally-mined diamonds are essential to ever-lasting love and happiness. Here are a few reasons why diamonds are not forever and why we shouldn’t conform to a marketing ploy but instead follow our individual taste on what amounts to fine jewelry.
The Tradition of Engagement Rings Is Relatively New
The role of diamonds in marriage proposals seems so ingrained in our societal behaviours that it may seem that they have played a role in our society for hundreds of years. Contrary to popular belief, the diamond engagement ring phenomenon started in the late 1930’s but only took off in the 1950’s. This means that we manned flights and created duct tape all before the tradition of the diamond engagement ring was projected onto our society.
It’s Inanely Expensive
To quote author Edward J. Epstein: "De Beers proved to be the most successful cartel arrangement in the annals of modern commerce. While other commodities, such as gold, silver, copper, rubber, and grains, fluctuated wildly in response to economic conditions, diamonds have continued, with few exceptions, to advance upward in price every year since the Depression.”. In other words, the influence of a good marketing team has surpassed logic and the commodity market. The price of naturally-mined diamonds is progressively getting more expensive while its resale value rakes a fraction of its original price.
Blood Diamonds Have Ruined lives
Blood diamonds are diamonds mined in war zones and sold to finance insurgencies, warlord’s activities, terrorism etc. Since these activities need a paperless trail, it is unlikely a credit card can be used to fund it. Diamonds have allowed access to under the table funding of these activities and has led to an insurgent of immoral jobs; such as slave labor. It can be hard to ensure that the naturally-mined diamonds you adorn yourself with have come from an ethical source. Without us knowing, blood diamonds have navigated their way into a lot of mainstream jewelry suppliers.
Instant Depreciation
Akin to truth in the words ‘a new car loses 20% of its value as soon as it leaves the dealership’, naturally-mined diamond jewelry loses a significant amount of value upon its sale. Popular Jewelry brands deny the option for customers to sell back their jewelry purely due to this fact. Diamonds are sold at multiple times their value; to buy it back and then sell it again as a secondhand item would yield little profit.
Diamonds have been pushed onto us since the infamous De Beers Marketing that ‘A Diamond is Forever’. Social pressure has further perpetuated this well-crafted phenomenon, leading us to believe that diamond jewelry is essential to reflecting love and happiness.
At Eclat by Oui, we’ve created the perfect stones that reflect the best qualities of a diamond without its downfall. Our exquisitely hand-crafted diamond simulants showcase the flawless artistry of our highly skilled craftsmen. Our stones are optically similar to naturally mined diamonds, and are indistinguishable to the naked eye. In fact, many jewelers have difficulty telling our stones apart from naturally-mined diamond due to its impressive optical characteristics. Sift through our collection of chic jewelry and find something that breaks free from conventional standards.
