[QUOTE=commasense]
Or do they just think that men think that?
A full page magazine ad by DeBeers has a picture of a diamond bracelet over the following copy: “Hey, what do you know. She thinks you’re funny again.”
The motto of Kay Jewelers is “Every kiss begins with Kay.”
I’m sure you can find or remember similar ads. Clearly the message is, “Buy your woman some jewelry and she’ll sleep with you.”
Should we gather from this that the marketers believe women are prostitutes, or merely that they understand that men believe this? Do men believe this? Is it true?
I’m a 52-year-old man who’s never been married (or even close). Maybe I should have bought someone some diamonds?
[/QUOTE]
The most offensive diamond ad that I remember was the one where the guy was proposing, perhaps in Paris, and got all goofy and romantic and she was irritated, until he popped out The Ring.
I have a beautiful wedding set. My husband saved up for it without me knowing and picked it out on his own. We were working together, living together, commuting together and shared a bank account. Not only did he make a beautiful choice, the fact that he was able to do it without me knowing just amazed me.
The whole “right hand ring” thing drove me batshit nuts also. Not to mention, approximately 99% of them were uglier than home made sin. It seems to be a trend that faltered and died, thankfully. I saw it as just another way for debeers to guilt us into spending more on diamonds, because of course, they had to be diamonds.
[QUOTE=Auntbeast]
The most offensive diamond ad that I remember was the one where the guy was proposing, perhaps in Paris, and got all goofy and romantic and she was irritated, until he popped out The Ring.
I have a beautiful wedding set. My husband saved up for it without me knowing and picked it out on his own. We were working together, living together, commuting together and shared a bank account. Not only did he make a beautiful choice, the fact that he was able to do it without me knowing just amazed me.
The whole “right hand ring” thing drove me batshit nuts also. Not to mention, approximately 99% of them were uglier than home made sin. It seems to be a trend that faltered and died, thankfully. I saw it as just another way for debeers to guilt us into spending more on diamonds, because of course, they had to be diamonds.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Malthus]
“Right hand ring” thing? Educate my ignorance.
[/QUOTE]
It’s a campaign to sell big flashy right-hand rings as distinct from the left-hand band/engagement ring. They’re supposed to be something a woman treats herself to. Horrible stuff.
" It is more than just a piece of diamond jewelry. The right hand rings are representatives of the change in times and acceptance of self-sufficient women in society." :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=Aioua]
At a small jeweler’s by my house they’ve hung up a banner out front. Bigh picture of some sparklies. The caption?
“Long Term Wife-Insurance”
I shit you not.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=gigi]
It’s a campaign to sell big flashy right-hand rings as distinct from the left-hand band/engagement ring. They’re supposed to be something a woman treats herself to. Horrible stuff.
" It is more than just a piece of diamond jewelry. The right hand rings are representatives of the change in times and acceptance of self-sufficient women in society." :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=Dangerosa]
For most men the reality is that they are simply NOT getting laid for weeks if their wife finds a new spatula set under the tree.
[/QUOTE]
The first gift I ever bought for one girlfriend (many years ago) was a spatula. The two of us had lots and lots of good sex!
I gave her the spatula not long after our first date. On that first date, we went to the theater and watched Weird Al’s movie, UHF. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll remember the commercial for a store called “Spatula City”, and the line, “What better way to say ‘I love you’ than with the gift of a spatula?”
Also, I like emeralds and rubies more than diamonds.
Well, put it this way. There’s just some men and woman who are just in it for the riches.
It’s nothing to generalize by sex or race. Some woman like a RAW dude with a fat wallet, and some men like a woman with big tits and a fat purse. There’s some “manhos” too, if that’s how you associate “whores” with some woman, and if that’s a problem, it’s a people problem.
Look at those commercials for woman’s products, you see stuff about this medication that makes you look younger and sexier, then you see woman spend all their bread in the bakery to ensure that they get their male-done sex pleasure, just like males getting a diamond ring to ensure their pleasure of a certain kind.
Of corse, it doesn’t go for ALL men and woman, but it goes for some. The point I’m trying to make is both genders spend heavily to ensure sex.
[QUOTE=Phase42]
The first gift I ever bought for one girlfriend (many years ago) was a spatula. The two of us had lots and lots of good sex!
I gave her the spatula not long after our first date. On that first date, we went to the theater and watched Weird Al’s movie, UHF. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll remember the commercial for a store called “Spatula City”, and the line, “What better way to say ‘I love you’ than with the gift of a spatula?”
[/QUOTE]
Awwww.
I’ve told myself that many many times in the years since. But I was young and stupid, and often drunk; she was younger and smarter. She was better off without me.
My fiancee wanted to know how I was able to afford her engagement ring when I was an impoverished student and could barely afford to put petrol in the car.
I told her that I’d been saving up for ages and that if Colonel M’bale called, to take a message and I’d call him back.
The truth is that I actually paid for it by selling some of my guns to a collector friend who’d been after them for a while.
The Kay commercials aren’t nearly as insulting as the ones for Jared. “He went to JARED!!!”
Ugh.
The only diamond I wear daily is my grandmother’s engagement ring. It’s a very small diamond, combined with another band, that has tiny little diamonds over the top. It’s beautiful, simple, and very special to me.
I also have a small, delicate pearl ring-a plain band with just one pearl-that my favorite aunt and godmother gave to me when I was born. She died when I was eleven, and that’s also one of my most treasured pieces.
My father did buy me a pair of emerald and diamond earrings, but I rarely wear them. Maybe special occasions. They aren’t what I’d have picked out, although they are pretty.
[QUOTE=catsix]
Don’t they also insult men by implying they are not thoughtful enough to do something on their own, so they should just line up at the jewelry store and hand over their wallets?
[/QUOTE]
Pretty much (Hey-we agree!). Men are stupid, thoughtless, unoriginal clods, and women are selfish, greedy whores.
Now then-I do admit, I LIKE jewelry. However, I don’t care if it’s real, or if it’s costume. Hell, I’d prefer antique and/or vintage jewelry. My favorite jewelry-after Gramma’s ring-is probably a pair of long, dangly earrings-in Victorian/Edwardian style that belonged to my mother. I THINK they’re Sarah Conventry. I love old costume jewelry-most of it’s fair more unique and probably fancier with more stones, because it’s not so expensive.
I believe I read somewhere that when George Burns first proposed to Gracie Allen, all he could afford was a cheap, plain band, that tarnished almost immediatly. When she died, it was still on her finger. Now that, in my view, is far more romantic than some big ass rock from DeBeers.
I’d guess that empirical evidence gathered over decades has shown decisively what type of marketing sells jewelry. Given that information, jewelers (or their stockholders) don’t think much about the moral, ethical or social implications of their marketing campaigns. They’re just concerned about what sells.
If Disney could sell more videos by showing ads featuring parents bashing their newborn babies brains out with rocks, they’d find a way to do it. DeBeers isn’t going to be dissuaded from an effective marketing campaign because it perpetuates gender stereotypes.
