Diamonds Are Foe-Ever

There was a humorous parody of the cliché diamond advertisements on "Family Guy" in which a man and a woman are seen in silhouette. The man gives the woman a diamond ring, she kisses him, and then her head begins to dip out of frame. Finally it closed with the tagline: "Diamonds. She'll Pretty Much Have To." This pokes fun at real advertisement that send a less frank but equally potent message: it doesn’t matter who he is, he only loves you if he gives you jewelry, but with accepting the diamond comes the expectation of sex.

“Their [the diamond industry] slogan used to be; ‘Diamonds are forever...’ Last year it was; ‘Diamonds. Take her breath away...’ This year they've come out with, ‘Diamonds. Render her speechless...’ Why don't they just come right out and say it? ‘Diamonds. That'll shut her up...’”-Ron White of The Blue Collar Comedy Tour;

Imagine a beautiful beach lit by moonlight, two shadows running, a man and a woman, nothing but silhouettes full of love. As Karl Jenkins’ Allegretto swells into a crescendo, a beautiful diamond ring appears in the man’s hand. He slips it onto the woman’s finger with a passionate kiss, and the phrase appears “Diamonds are Forever” appears. This familiar DeBeers commercial is the classic example of advertisements in the diamond industry. We might assume that diamonds serve no purpose to the ordinary consumer that they are purely aesthetic, but are they? Jewelry advertisements, especially diamonds, exploit a woman’s desire to be loved, and attempt to make both male and female viewers believe that all women are materialistic sex objects.

The diamond industry portrays diamonds as rare and only accessible to the most privileged. Surprisingly, diamonds are not rare, whatsoever, but this portrayed rareness hold much of the allure and value of diamonds. However not everything about diamonds is attractive. Diamond mines are often held by force, 10 to 15 percent of diamonds in circulation are Blood Diamonds. Even more disturbing is the fact that currently there is no way to tell how a diamond being purchased was mined. Why are these facts so unknown? How does the diamond industry hide this? The answer is: through excellent marketing!

On average an American sees 3000 advertisements a day, so all companies are striving to make their advertisement standout the most, and also make sure that the consumers know only what the companies want them to know. Advertisements try to say that the consumer’s life will be enriched by their product even though they will lose money by purchasing the item. Advertisers also convey the message that their product makes people better, and worthy of envy. At first glance these diamond advertisements seem to be simply showing beautiful jewelry, but on closer inspection one can find much more. Advertisements show glamorous people, in glamorous settings with rich colors that easily catch the eye. They sell lifestyles of true love, originality, and power. But what else do these advertisements portray?

Why do diamond ads portray shadows and silhouettes so often? Anyone looking at this advertisement could imagine themselves or their desired replacing the shadowed figures. Any man can have a sexual relationship with a beautiful woman if he can give her expensive jewelry. Once receiving the diamond the man is rewarded with physical affection, the woman is sexual but submissive. This advertisement reinforces the societal expectation of a real woman’s reaction to diamonds to be like shadow woman’s. A woman is put into a position of passive, hyper-sexuality by accepting a ring.

“Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.” (Berger, 1972) No relationship is the same, so the symbol of that relationship should be original. But, why is it important for a ring to be valuable? To prove the value of the relationship? And if so, prove to whom? In a capitalist society wealth equals power, so a physical representation of wealth commands respect of that power. A woman can feel extravagant and worthy of envy when she wears expensive jewelry, in the same way a man can be worthy of envy when he has a beautiful woman. So does an extravagant wedding ring symbolize devotion, or ownership?

What is it that we, as individuals, take to be real just because society presents it to us as real? People who wear extravagant diamond encrusted jewelry are presented as really powerful and worthy of envy. Diamonds are not rare but they are presented to us as uncommon and therefore really valuable. An American is not real unless they are an individual, who accessories reflect that originality. For females a real perfect life is presented to them, since childhood, as growing up to be a beautiful woman in a love filled marriage to a man who can financially support her. A woman’s real value is associated to how many men desire her and how many women envy her, and through this appeal and envy women gain status. But where do these real values come from?

As a woman I feel strongly about the roles projected on women by family, media, and societal pressures.Television commercials portray women as materialistic Barbies who are so excited about our next expensive accessory, showing her at her happiest when expensive jewelry is involved. The sexual expectation alluded to in jewelry ads with taglines like, “Every kiss begins with Kay” not-so-subtly implies that buying a woman jewelry will rewards a man with sexual feedback. But most upsetting to me is the woman to woman idea of jewelry as a mode of competition. We all know the scene of a woman flaunting her expensive gift of jewelry to other women, while they all coo over and envy the gift, is all too familiar. It is bad enough that male powered companies in this patriarchal society try to place women into restricting roles, women do not need other women to add to the constraint. For women to ever been seen as equal to men, we must first see ourselves as equal to one another. Jewelry advertisements, especially diamonds, exploit a woman’s desire to be loved and categorize them as materialistic and competitive sex objects. An advertisement can only be successful if the lifestyle it is selling is widely desired. If women respect each other and demand respect instead of objects that are meant to be symbolic of the beauty and worth of their bodies the cycle of negative imaging can be broken. Diamonds are forever? BAH! Sisterhood is forever.

#diamonds #sex #sexuality #pleasure #bodypositivity