Are diamonds really eternal?

Diamonds are always advertised as eternal jewelry, symbolizing love, but in reality those words are the product of marketing from the last century.

When Gladys Babson Hannaford arrived at Florida State University (USA) in 1960, her lectures were not necessarily part of the curriculum. And Hannaford herself - the so-called "diamond lady" - is no ordinary lecturer.

Diamonds are considered a symbol of eternity in love. (Photo: Denis Balibouse).

This woman is a diamond expert who has held hundreds of "educational" talks about gemstones. She was recruited by an advertising agency with a simple but ambitious mission: to make American women want diamonds.

At that time, diamonds were not a rare commodity, the price of this gemstone was also clearly listed by the global diamond group De Beers.

In America, using diamonds for engagement is not a historical tradition. But even so, diamond lady Hannaford still preaches that diamonds are precious stones with historical and emotional resonance.

"The eternity of a diamond is linked to lasting love ," she told students, encouraging female students to ask their future fiance to propose with a diamond ring.

A strong marketing campaign makes diamonds sought after despite their high prices. (Photo: National Geographic).

Why are diamonds popular?

Until the 19th century, the Indian subcontinent and South America were the two main sources of diamonds for the world. Since ancient times, this gemstone has been known, but it was not until the 13th century that it became popular in Western Europe, according to National Geographic.

Diamond cutting came into being during the Renaissance, when artisans used tools to shape rough, unpolished stones, giving them a sparkle that was perfect for jewelry.

After being polished, diamonds become breathtakingly beautiful and are also very rare. They became a symbol of wealth and luxury because very few people could afford to buy them.

The first time diamonds were put on engagement rings was in 1477. That year, Austrian Grand Duke Maximilian gave this ring to Queen Mary of Burgundy.

In the same year, one of the advisors wrote a letter advising the grand duke to make a gold ring with diamonds on top for his engagement.

Centuries later, mineralogist George Frederick Kunz believed the item was evidence that diamond engagement rings were popular among royal families at the time.

By the 1860s, diamonds were discovered on the farm of Johannes and Diederik de Beer in South Africa. These two men later sold the diamond mine to a British company.

A British businessman and politician Cecil Rhodes took over this mine, and also purchased newly discovered diamond mines. As a result, he consolidated the diamond industry in this area and created the De Beers diamond empire .

As a result, by the beginning of the 20th century, the De Beers group controlled almost all diamonds worldwide.

But this also poses new challenges for the diamond industry . The reason is that since diamond mines in South Africa were discovered, the supply of this gemstone has increased by a huge amount.

De Beers alone holds 90% of the world's diamonds . This left the group in the difficult position of how to maintain the value and reputation of its diamonds, especially in the early 20th century - when the Great Depression forced many people in Europe to tighten their belts.

Finally, De Beers and its then-owner - Ernest Oppenheimer - targeted the US as a potential market. But the difficulty is that diamond rings were not the standard for engagement in this country in the early 20th century.

Thanks to the creative abilities of advertising agency NW Ayer & Son, De Beers convinced Americans that diamonds were a necessary luxury item, symbolizing eternal love, so the high price was justified. .

Diamonds have been around for a long time, but it was not until the 20th century that they created a global fever. (Photo: Pexels).

Eternal diamond?

By the 1940s, this advertising company began "attacking" American consumers with images of diamonds as well as stories about their rarity and eternal symbolism.

Advertisements in magazines also introduce a series of celebrities using diamond rings for engagement. The company even lends diamonds to Hollywood stars to add to their jewelry collections as a way to promote.

They didn't stop there, they sent representatives like diamond lady Gladys Babson Hannaford to women's clubs and even high schools to "show off" their sparkling gems, thereby "sowing " into people's minds that diamonds and marriage have a strong connection.

The royal family also participated in this "promotional" activity , when Queen Elizabeth II visited the De Beers diamond mine in 1947 and received a diamond necklace from the South African Government and a 6-carat diamond from De Beers. Beers.

The queen's engagement ring is also studded with sparkling diamonds. Subsequently, this iconic ring created a thirst for diamonds in many places.

This advertising campaign was so popular that a copywriter created the slogan for diamonds in 1948 and it is still used today.

That year, Mary Frances Gerety, an employee of NW Ayer & Son, created the slogan "A Diamond is Forever".

Analysts state that this slogan is concise and conveys a message that diamond rings should not be bought and resold because they have emotional value between husband and wife. Thanks to that, diamond distributors encourage customers to buy multiple diamonds if they remarry many times.

De Beers was very ambitious when it set the goal of making diamonds an essential and must-have item, regardless of income and financial pressure.

That has come true.

According to the World Diamond Council, global diamond sales are worth more than $72 billion per year, with the US being the world's diamond market.

However, currently De Beers is no longer able to expand as before because new diamond mines have appeared, there are many competitors and especially due to the appearance of artificial diamonds "grown" in the laboratory. experiment.