Engagement Rings

Buying the Engagement Ring

They Always Bought Engagement Rings

proposals always come with engagement rings

Do you get the feeling that buying a diamond ring for your fiancée upon getting engaged is a tradition that dates back to ancient times – thousands of years? Sure, maybe the ancient Romans didn’t give the same exact type of ring we give, but they surely gave some fancy piece of diamond jewelry or engagement ring to their loved one upon engaging to be married.

The truth is, as in much of the diamond industry, the history of the engagement ring is really very short and is based on a marketing scheme to sell more diamonds.

Diamond Marketing

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, De Beers worked very hard on creating a marketing campaign that would make people feel as if diamonds are romantic, diamonds are the symbol of eternity, diamonds are a girl’s best friend, Diamonds are Forever, diamonds are the classic symbol of betrothal, etc.

A Marketing Success

Eventually, their marketing, with the millions upon millions of dollars they put into it, took hold and became part of the industry, and part of the consciousness of the average person. When anybody thinks of diamonds today, they automatically think of love and romance, marriage and a life of eternity.

We all are victims of one big advertising campaign. There is nothing to do about it, really. The campaign hit the tipping point 50 years ago, and so be it. I bought my wife a diamond ring, my friends all bought their wives diamond rings, and you will buy your wife a diamond ring.

Not only that, but De Beers also has created the rule, another fictitious one solidified by massive marketing, that when buying an engagement ring, one should buy one that has the value of two monthly salaries.

Go Ahead And Do It

Do you have to? Of course not. But you try and buck the trend. Good luck with that!

Like everything else in the diamond industry, it is all sourced in marketing to make us think this is the way it has to be. Diamonds are an illusion – it is a piece of rock, carbon really, that has been polished to sparkle. The marketing campaign started with that, and then went on to encompass every other aspect of the diamond market.

That is the world we live in, so make the best of it. If you already have to buy the diamond, and the engagement ring, buy it right.

Questions?
Don’t understand something someone told you about diamonds? Not sure if you should really buy that diamond?

Get the most bang for your buck when buying diamonds online! Email me at diamonds@clarityofdiamonds.com and ask!

Be sure to check out the Clarity of Diamonds home page for daily recommendations of great value diamond purchases.