For making us spend two months’ salary.
If you truly loved your girlfriend, you would spend at least two months’ salary for her diamond engagement ring. If you find yourself asking, “Is that before or after taxes?”, then you may also be wondering who came up with this bullshit. It was De Beers. The company also came up with “diamonds are forever” and “diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” It’s the reason we associate a diamond solitaire with poppin’ the question. De Beers started this marketing campaign in the 1930s and is still bamboozling us with this sparkly razzle-dazzle nonsense.
Everyone knows these diamond companies are shady, greedy, and sneaky. Just watch ten minutes of the movie Blood Diamond and you’ll see. De Beers also keeps the price of diamonds high by controlling supply and demand. Try to forget about all that for a second, and focus on the question “Do you really NEED a diamond to propose?”
Congratulations, De Beers, you convinced everyone that a diamond is mandatory when a guy gets down on one knee. You also made everyone think there is a direct correlation between the size of a diamond and the quality of love and devotion. Wake up, America! (Since you are, indeed, the world’s largest diamond consumer.) You have been DUPED. Who says you have to buy a diamond ring for an engagement? Your girlfriend? No, the diamond industry tricks people with its exceptional marketing ploys. And we fall for it. De Beers claims you should spend about two months’ salary. Since the typical American male makes about $36,000 a year, that means the average Joe owes his woman about $6,000 of sparkly (and tries his best to comply). More than 80 percent of American brides receive diamond engagement rings. Take note, about 95 percent of the U.S. population has sex before marriage. This means that most people refuse to obey God and the church regarding premarital sex, but they will listen to De Beers about the six grand.
Think, people, THINK! Spend your money on a great honeymoon or start a trust fund for your unborn child’s education. Or maybe spend it on counseling before your marriage ends in divorce! Remember, a diamond is just a rock someone found in the ground. It takes more than digging in the dirt to make a marriage work.