Are Diamonds a Girls Best Friend?

  My father talks about his actress from when he was younger.  A lady who was known for performing the song about diamonds being a girls best friend.  So I wondered if that song is true.  Are diamonds a girls best friend?

Its only been in the last 50 years or so that diamonds have become a regular part of societal acceptance.  Up until about 1870, only a few pounds of diamonds were produced each year but then, someone made a huge discovery of raw diamonds.


This discovery caused diamonds to become more plentiful and to avoid protect prices and production, mine financiers formed a single corporation known as De Beers.  This new entity protected both diamond production and pricing due to having a monopoly.  Now they had control, the next step was to convince people they wanted, no needed to have diamonds.

So in the 1930's, De Beers met with a New York city advertising company to create a campaign designed to create that desire for people to have to own diamonds.  The main suggestion?  To use the rapidly growing film industry by backing films willing to create a story line which included a diamond ring, add a song or two to a musical,  or have the female character flash her diamond ring and necklace.

In addition, they paid to have fashion designers appear on radio shows to discuss the sparkling of the gem.  The company pushed both newspapers and magazines to increase the number of pictures with popular actresses sporting diamonds.  During the 1940's they hosted a series of lectures held in high schools, community halls, etc to talk about the diamond engagement ring.  They hoped this would help build desire for the consumption of diamonds.

By the 1950's the idea of a diamond engagement ring had become part of the culture.  It was considered the perfect item to show the world a boy and girl were now engaged. but De Beers didn't stop there.  In the 1960's they turned their sights towards Japan where only five percent of women wore diamond engagement rings.  By the mid 1970's, almost 50 percent of the female population wanted diamond rings.

So now the diamond has a connection to love.  If a man really loves a woman, he will make sure she has the biggest diamond he can get to "show" his love.   If he doesn't present her with a diamond, its obvious he doesn't really love her, or at least according to the advertising.  If you watch commercials around Valentines day, you'll see an increased number flooding the airwaves as a way of showing your love.

I do not own any diamonds, mostly because they've never appealed to me.  I prefer rubies, emeralds, amethyst or other colored gem because they seem so much warmer.  Diamonds feel too cold.

Let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from you.