Yuck

Ok so now I’m really mad. I discovered that De Beers is selling off its stockpile of diamonds. I’m not sure if it has all been sold off, but it’s in the process. Remember how I said that diamond prices would go down and their profits would decress if this happened? Well to make up for that, De Beers in 2001 joined with French luxury retailer LVMH in a business deal that would enter De Beers into the retail market for the first time ever. That’s when De Beers began selling both its rough and polished diamonds, and was the sole company to sell both. And that’s when De Beers began selling as a brand. Now, De Beers has stopped buying on the open market because of the conflict diamond issue. This means that once the stockpile is sold off in completion, De Beers will be the only company whose stones will have been in its possession from when it was obtained in private mines in Africa to when the diamonds are sold to consumers. Because De Beers owns its own diamond mines, they will be the only, the only company able to guarantee that the jewelry it sells is clean.

So why does this piss me off? Well because in essence, De Beers was able to take the horror of blood diamonds and use it as a marketing tool. Apparently people being slaughtered, amputated, rapped, forced to flee their county is a good marketing tool. And that’s exactly how the company is treating the issue. De Beers isn't cleaning up its act because they want to, they are doing it because one, they have to, and two because it creates a beneficial marketing plan. Yuck. F that. God forbid De Beers takes a human approach and doesn't look at the issue of conflict diamonds as a PR tactic but rather as an issue that needs to be taken on for the well being of the African race.