Diamonds are worthless.

Video Transcript:

The Diamonds are a great example of how desire has been manufactured. The most important thing to know about diamonds is that diamonds are rare and they are not. Diamonds are common and their value does not come from this case. The 20th century has been the story of how diamonds have been restricted from entering the market. The second myth about diamonds is that they are connected in some intrinsic way to love and to marriage and to portrait. Again, this is a story that was created around 1947 when a copywriter at the NAW is advertising agency on Madison Avenue not far from here came up with a slogan that diamonds is forever. The Diamonds Forever was an attempt to make diamonds a mass consumer item. Did you say that now that the diamond is forever has been seen as being the quintessential thing an ad should live up to? Well, the Diamonds Forever has been identified by the advertising industry as the most important marketing campaign, the most effective marketing campaign of the 20th century. So people started saying, well, if I buy a diamond, the diamond means I love you and the more I spend, I love you that much more. Well, the campaign actually had two goals. The campaign had, they wanted for women, they wanted to instill the idea that diamonds were a necessity for marriage and courtship. And for men, they wanted to instill the idea that the bigger the diamond, the greater the love. The problem with that is, what about all those poor working class people that you want to get in the market but you can't afford the really high end bring? So they came up with this, it's absolutely brilliant strategy. They come up with this the two-month salary guideline. So it all becomes a relative thing. So even if you're not a millionaire, if you spend two months of your salary on a diamond, it means it shows how much you love the person you're going to marry. It was a brilliant, brilliant strategy. Again, they managed to convince men, some men to go into debt to buy these worthless things that they have billions of sitting in warehouses. And the beers was able to... And I love you so much, I'm going into debt for you and for us. And most probably will still be paying off the debt when they get divorced in two or three years' time. Maybe the other idea of it. That's the American dream.