Funny & not-funny re: deBeers

[mattlistener]

Funny:

Seen on a T billboard: a deBeers diamond cartel slogan.

YOU KNEW YOU'D
FALL IN LOVE
AGAIN AND AGAIN
---------------------------
JUST NOT WITH THE
SAME PERSON

(I doubt they intended a polyamorous reading there! :-) )


Not funny:
"Glitter and Greed in South Africa"
http://www.gn.apc.org/inquirer/afrodia.html


Bit o' background:
deBeers controls the international diamond market and the South African national market using all the methods that anti-trust laws make illegal in the US. The price of diamonds is permanently artificially inflated, and they enjoy a government-enforced monopoly.

deBeers pioneered the concept of product-placement in movies with the use of diamonds in movie-marriages. This is the origin of the idea of diamonds as the rock of choice for a wedding or engagement ring. "Diamonds are forever" is their slogan as well, promoted to reduce competition from a used-diamond market.

The link above discusses how deBeers' practices prolong the massive social inequities of Apartheid.


Conclusion:
You won't catch me buying a diamond this lifetime!