If diamonds weren’t disgusting enough after being drenched in blood and having their prices artificially inflated, advertisers have to put a sickeningly condescending spin in the commercials. Witness, for example, the commercial where a man declares his love for his wife while she looks on with embarassment. But after he presents her with a diamond, she is all loving embraces. Then there is the commerical for a local jewelry store which smarmily asserts that buying her a diamond will make her “love you… forever.”
You see, it’s a little known fact that women become hypnotized by sparkly objects. Take any women (even the oft praised Condoleezza Rice), give her a hunk of carbon, and she’s yours. Any other romantic gestures (such as renting out an entire movie theater to show your wedding videos) are mildly impressive, but nothing gets the loving like a chunk of sparkly. But beware the rookie mistake of buying semiprecious stones or (gasp) cubic zirconia, because that shows that your love is fake. Should you commit this grievous mistake, she will run off with a someone who is willing to pay for her love. By the way, ladies, no need to hang around diamond stores anymore - De Beers has a nifty feature that allows the frustrated housewife or impatient girlfriend to design the perfect ring that the idiotic lout has forgotten to buy you. Good times for all!
I’m most certainly not distracted by shiny objects and these hunks of carbon. Those commercials make me gag! So do coworkers who fuss over the bloody things when someone announces an engagement.
I. Just. Don’t. Get. It.
If it’s worth two months’ salary, put a freakin’ downpayement on a house or something. Do something constructive. “Show her you love her.” Riiiiight.
“Oh thanks, honey! Now if ever the car plunges into lake Toronto, I’ll have this handy dandy ring I can cut the glass windows with!”
If any guy spends that much on a piece of jewelry for me, he’d better know me well enough to make sure it’s silver and contains at least one big-ass opal. As for diamonds … well, I’d actually prefer cubic zirc. Looks the same to me, not worth much if it’s stolen.
Of course, speaking as a girl whose favorite Valentine’s Day gift was a piece of weaponry, I’d say the whole “all girls are crazy about diamonds” thing is overblown.
Speaking as someone who is definitely attracted to shiny objects (I once spent twenty minutes at Aeropostale looking at the glitter on the shirts) I hate Diamond. The hatred I feel for diamonds burns like the heat that created them. If ever a guy gets me a diamond, he will be retrieving the stone from a very uncomfortable appendage on the lower body. They’re colorless, have nasty associations with wars and cartels, and they’re too frickin’ common! EVERYONE has a fuckin’ diamond engagement ring. No thank you please, I prefer a stone with color. One that the ring-giver doesn’t have to go into debt for.
SpazCat, who is quite happy with her single garnet ring
Even tho’ those DeBeers commercials make me reach for the remote quicker than Celebrity Fear Factor, one has to admit they’ve had some effect. 100 years ago, diamonds were, well not un-valuable, but not the be-all and end-all of gemology. Indeed, many Victorians considered sapphires and rubies more valuable stones. Now it’s a lump of sparkly charcoal or nuthin’.
[slight hijack]This thread has produced two decent power-pop band names already…Lake Toronto and Big-Ass Opal.[/slight hijack]
Thanks FairyChatMom. That Iggy Pop thing was bugging me.
I like diamonds. I think they are pretty. I would still have married my husband if he hadn’t given me one (of course!), but I certainly love my engagement ring too.
They are quite beautiful. Once I finally make my first million I plan on starting a gem collection. I don’t know what it is, but I could just hold and stare at a perfect gemstone for hours.
Heh. “If you don’t get the woman in your life a diamond [sub]perferably a big one, and several small ones[/sub], yer a SCHMUCK!” :rolleyes: Feh. Give me opals, emeralds, or something with more color to it any day.
Have you guys noticed that the only thing on the flip side, i.e. “Get the guy in your life THIS or you’re a schmuck!” seems to be cordless razors and/or power tools of some sort?
Thanks, FairyChatMom. Iggy’s is the only version I’ve heard. It has a feel of an older song, and I was pretty sure I’d be corrected almost instantly if it was done by someone else.
OK, and some searching has convinced me that the previous paragraph is, shall we say?, factually incorrect. It wasn’t even him that covered it around 1986. So much for my memory.
I’ll admit it. I want a diamond when I get engaged (which I’m thinking may be within the next six months). But while I do want white gold or platinum (I hate yellow gold and never wear it), I want something SMALL and non-showy. To me, it’s not how big the stone is, or how expensive it is, but how much thought my beloved puts into choosing it. I know that he’ll definitely put plenty of thought into choosing it because that’s just the kind of guy he is, but I also would much rather have something small and use the extra money towards a house. I can’t help wanting the ring, though. I’ve been brainwashed since I was little by the commercials.
The commercial that annoys me is the one where the husband is talking to his baby saying “Mommy gave me you, so I’m giving her these!”. It’s a bit too “Breed and get a diamond!” for me.
