ARE DIAMONDS FOREVER?
Everybody knows the slogan “A Diamond Is Forever”, but have you ever wondered about its origin? Here is the story.
Until the late nineteenth century, diamonds were found only in India and Brazil, and the entire world production of gem diamonds amounted to a few pounds a year. In 1870, however, huge diamond deposits were discovered in South Africa, where diamonds were soon being scooped out by the ton. The British financiers who had founded the South African mines quickly realized that their investment was endangered. They knew that diamond prices depended almost entirely on their scarcity so they feared that diamonds might become at best only semiprecious gems.
They needed something which would boost the demand for the stone. Help came in 1938 from a leading diamond merchandiser who launched well-orchestrated advertising and public-relations campaigns which aimed at creating emotional and romantic feelings towards diamonds. The skilful marketing enhanced the notion that diamonds were a gift of love: the larger and finer the diamond, the greater the love expressed. In three years diamond sales were up by 50%, but the merchandiser still needed a slogan that would express both the theme of romance and legitimacy. In 1947 the now classic slogan “A Diamond Is Forever” was coined. This immediately spurred even more sales. The implied durability of a diamond conveyed the meaning that marriage is forever.
The expression “a diamond is forever” is, however, more than just a catchy marketing slogan. Diamonds undoubtedly are the hardest of all gemstones. They have incredibly strong atom bonds because they are made up of carbon. Being the smallest of the atoms that can be bonded, carbon atoms fit together more tightly than atoms of any other element. Once these atoms have been compressed at high enough temperatures to form a diamond, they are literally bound forever, like marriage should be.
adapted from www.thediamondauthority.org
