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While flipping through an issue of The Economist in an attempt to find a stimulating topic for my first column I stumbled upon a full-page, full-color advertisement from Everlon, which is a diamond knot collection under license from the De Beers Group of Companies. The ad is simple with the picture of the diamond knot ring and basic text that reads “She’ll love you come rain or come shine. This year, make it shine.”
It is cute that the ad is suggesting people will actually love each other come hell or high water. Clearly this is not the case in the United States since the divorce rate for first marriages is between 40 and 50 percent according to divorcerate.org. This is not the part of the ad that bothers me most though. What I find to be extremely enraging is the “make it shine” portion of the text.
The ad implies that the key to making your marriage, or more accurately your relationship shine is expensive jewelry. Now, I understand that this is and has been the marketing stitch for many years - make the masses feel as if the only way their relationship results in success is with the addition of shiny accessories.
I naively assumed though that after massive natural disasters, two wars, huge bank bailouts and high unemployment rates that our nation was shifting its values. Perhaps we, as a nation, had learned that the price tag on your car or ring was not the most important thing in the world. I had assumed some of us had stopped being so obsessed with “keeping up with the Jones.” This recent advertisement does not suggest that we learned any type of lesson though. Instead it pushes the notion that gifts do determine the condition of your relationship.
The logic is - make it (your relationship) significant by buying her something shiny. Implying that unless you buy her something shiny your relationship is somehow less than. What about people who will never be able to afford a De Beers diamond? Will their relationships never be good enough? I’m sure they do not think so. Or what about the individuals who earn enough money to purchase lavish gifts but choose not to instead? Are they somehow less because they prefer to spend thousands of dollars on something besides jewelry?
I understand not everyone was a victim of job loss or hurricane destruction, but I thought enough people were in the past decade that we could take a break. A break from making people feel bad that they don’t have the latest, largest, or shiniest gift is needed in our society. Individuals in addition to the United States as a country have extended themselves far beyond their means with large amounts of debt.
I’m not expecting jewelry ads to disappear. I wouldn’t want them to since I like fancy necklaces and rings as much as the next girl. A break from the same pattern would be nice though. Perhaps a little creativity could be used to win the hard earned money of the people still employed opposed to the “if you don’t own this you aren’t good enough” theme that got us into this whole financial mess in the first place.
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