Another side of the coin...the impact of 'Blood Diamond' to famous jewelers

Thanks to Tong for giving me other sources to read about conflict diamonds. Fortune has just published several articles about the remains of conflict diamonds in Africa and how jewelry companies like De Beer and Tiffany were really scared of their sales in holiday season being greatly impacted by the negative perception of the audience who watch this movie.

So read on, before the links are gone, forever.

Diamonds Aren't Forever [courtesy of CNN Money.com -- Fortune Magazine Dec 11, 06]
Diamond Mines Are Forever [courtesy of CNN Money.com -- Fortune Magazine Oct 2, 06]
Jewelers Sweat a 'Blood Diamond' holiday [[courtesy of CNN Money.com -- Fortune Magazine Sep 11, 06]

Also check out the website created by the diamond producers (aka World Diamond Council). They said, "More than 99% of diamonds are now from conflict-free zone sources..."
http://www.diamondfacts.org/

And last but not least, check out De Beer website. Read on how this group has created so many positive things in the continent of Africa.
http://www.debeersgroup.com/debeersweb
There's a footnote on the homepage saying:

We donated approximately US$13.5 million to social investment projects. Almost 90% of this (US$12.2 million) was disbursed in Africa and nearly US$2 million allocated to education. Report to Stakeholders 2005/6, p82

Wow...how generous, right?

Well, I just want us to have both sides of the stories. You don't even have to choose who's right or wrong. At least, just be aware. You might stop for a few seconds before you buy your next diamond.

Blood Diamond -- so disturbing you should see it

Diamonds are forever.
Diamonds are a girl’s best friends.

We’ve heard of these two sentences way too often that we think they’re true. Well, the way we all behave these days assure us that we do. Who wouldn’t want to have the biggest, brightest rock on her ring finger at her wedding day? Who wouldn’t want to have her boyfriend/ husband buy her a nice Tiffany diamond necklace? Who wouldn’t want to have a Rolex with numerous diamonds encrusted to look at the time?

I just watched “Blood Diamond” today, and now I’m choked. It’s not that I don’t know about this so-called “Conflicted Diamonds”. I learned “De Beer” case in my Strategy Class in my first quarter at Kellogg. And again, in my second year in Marketing Strategy class. I remembered my amazement of how De Beer made (“deceive” would be a better word) all of us think that diamonds are rare, and thus precious & priceless. I remembered my professor talked briefly about “conflicted diamonds” and how it created a big mess in Africa. It led to civil war and many people were killed. I remembered my professor mentioned that because of the conflicted diamond scandal, De Beer promised to the world that they wouldn’t trade these diamonds. And now their market share (of diamonds) are no longer 100%, but down to… (I don’t remember the exact), maybe 80%? But this is not just because of conflicted diamonds, but also because there are other diamond mines nowadays, e.g. Canada or Russia. I remembered that I thought De Beer was such a marketing genius. They used “product placement” tactic in the days when color TV was not even available. Remember Marilyn Monroe singing “Diamonds are a girl’s best friends”, with guys all over her, she strides down the stairs overloaded with her “Bling Bling”. That was when American girls were educated that diamonds are the most precious thing in which the most precious girl like herself deserves. Then De Beer launched several other clever campaigns. They learned that their users were not their buyers. The purchase decision was in the groom-to-be’s hand. So they launched an education campaign of how to calculate how much a wedding ring should worth – 3-month salary. Then, they increased purchase frequency by launching a campaign to promote buying diamonds for anniversaries – this time it must be bigger / more expensive than the wedding ones. Then, they took another half of target group, the females. They launched “Raise Your Right Hand” campaign to promote women to buy diamond rings for themselves to wear on their right hands. Left hand is for love; right hand is for yourself, something like that. I think now they’re going into partnership. Latest campaign I’ve seen from them was an attempt to partner with Louis Vitton to have diamonds encrusted on clothes and accessories.

I still think they’re smart marketers. I’ll probably write later about how they have deceived the world that diamonds are rare. But I want to talk more about how I felt after seeing Blood Diamond. Reading De Beer case and listening to the professor is one thing. Seeing it happening in front of your eyes is totally another thing. This movie is so violent. It’s like someone slaps your face and shakes you to wake up, to realize that money can make people do inhuman things. We, as end consumers, could care less how the raw material is made. What if you know it is made of blood, of innocent people being tortured, being killed, families being torn apart, young boys being taught to hold guns and shoot people in their own country? And the most disturbed thing to me was the thought that everything is so cruel that even decent people can no longer remain good. They eventually turn to evils.

This movie is so upsetting, so disturbing, yet so awakening. I know it might be a bit misleading and doesn’t give a justice to another side of the story. It’s very one-sided, therefore could be considered bias. It’s got many cliché of how the Africans are treated, the sentimental story of two White people falling for each other (one being a smuggler and another being a reckless reporter). The setup is a bit unrealistic, per se. But the heart of the story holds high % of what really happened. But the point I want to make is that I’m glad this kind of movie is made, and I’m so glad I’ve seen it. Because it might not be the best picture of the year this year, but it’s the kind of movie that creates a bigger purpose than just joy and entertainment. It makes us aware that something so cruel like this exists, and we’re a part of that chain of cruelty. I’m not a diamond addict to begin with. After seeing this movie, I will never purchase or ask anyone to give me any diamond, ever. Not really because of the crime behind conflicted diamonds, but more because I’ve realized that why wasting money on some rocks – there are so many things more worthwhile spending. For those who have such excessive money that they don’t know where to spend, how about feeding the hungers in Africa, those who suffer from the violence led by greed of very few people and fueled by probably some of the diamonds they own.

The formulations behind "The Holiday"

I went to see "The Holiday" with my so-called "Flower Power" girl gang last week and I wept like a baby. I'm sure loads and loads of single (or even married) girls would adore this movie and make it one of their most favorite movies in Romantic Comedy Genre. So today, I’d like to appoint myself as a VH1 pop culture critique/ Brand Age columnist and talk about the formulations for success behind this movie. (If you haven’t seen the movie, you should see it before reading this blog. If you have to choose, choose the movie, it sure is worthier than reading this blog.)

• “cannot-get-over-that-prick” insight: The fact that Iris cannot get over her ex-boyfriend who is such a ----ing bastard is such a sad-but-true insight of many women who fell for the “bad guys” who happen to be so charismatic and sweet and unpredictable that one day he just happens to fall in love with such an ordinary girl like you and then another day happens to fall out of it and mercilessly break your heart. These bastards only come back to us when they need help or a boost-up for their self-esteem (that there’s someone who is stupid enough to always falls for him). This insight rings the bell of pretty much all women – with ordinary looking, which is probably 80% of the women who go to see this movie.
• “high-flying career women who chase men away” insight: well, this sounds familiar… I guess the other 20% of the women who go to see this movie falls into this segment. Somehow, men these days are scared the s--t out of smart, hard-working women, so much so that they blame the women to be self-centered, inconsiderate, unemotional, cold, bossy, etc. (Hey, I’m just critiquing a film, not trying to defend myself or anything.) These two insights about two kinds of women (which can exist in one person) make girls love this movie coz it liberates them from the guilt they’ve been long suffering.
• “Even I’m the woman as described above, there’s a chance to find great guys.” Seriously, you think how many “Miles” and “Graham” exist in the real world. But hey, if it happens in the movie, we won’t get punished to keep on hoping that it could happen to us, right?
• “Meeting certain someone during the holiday season”: this is a basic formulation but works every time. I don’t know, maybe it’s the snow, the Christmas songs, the new year’s eve, the celebrating atmosphere and the fact that we get days and weeks out of work so all we think about is our love life.
• “Meeting someone outside of your country”: Also basic, works most of the time. You don’t know anyone there, so you’re supposed to be miserable and lonely and, ta-da, he’s your savior.
• “Meeting the right guy and knowing you have to leave soon”: And so you try not to expect too much from this relationship, maybe it’s just a fling, oh but he’s so right, oh but I have to leave, oh now I actually really like the guy, what to do, what to do. Used probably too often, but works for this time.
• “The old, but very nice guy you happen to meet and enjoy the company”: this one works either the elderly or the small kid. The key is that the relationship somehow gives back confidence and self-esteem to the woman that after all, she’s a great woman who’s got someone who cares about her.
• “Mr. Napkin”: I mean the widower who takes care of his daughters so well. The moment this fact of Graham’s character was revealed, and we saw him playing with his two daughters with such love and tender, I heard women sobbing. I mean, how cuter a guy could be, if not post the death of his wife, he still raises his daughters with so much love.
• “The guy with music talent”: well, especially piano. I’m not sure any girl falls for this, but I do. The moment when Miles says to Iris that if she were a melody, she would be…and he plays that melody, I just whispered to my friend, “oh you could just kill me now. How much more romantic life could ever be.”
• The script is actually funny & touching: a good Romantic Comedy needs both elements at the right amount: not too much, not too little. The key is to make you look at love with optimistic eyes again, feel that, oh yeah, falling in love in so romantic, so fun, and it’s worth all the risks. (Special applause to the “trailer joke”)
• The cast: great choice! Bravo to casting team. Kate Winslet is brilliant, as always. She brings depth to her character and makes the plot believable. Although that guy who dumped a girl looking like Kate should seriously consider checking up at a mental hospital. I really like Jack Black in this one. Usually he’s too funny. But he happens to have just about right sense of humor and warmth, and there’s certain seriousness in him that I find attractive. Cameron Diaz is, I think, as I would expect from her. She’s cute & funny, but nothing else much. I mean, she doesn’t have that same charisma of Renee Zellweger in Jerry Mcguire, Kate Hudson in Almost Famous, or Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle. But who would expect that from Cameron anyway?
• Jude Law: well, I just have to separate him from the rest of the cast. He’s… beyond description. I mean, to fully write about him in this movie would take days, otherwise it doesn’t do the justice. So in short, he keeps the hotness he always has, or maybe, increases it. Coz this time, he’s tanner! Also, he’s a widower, with two daughters, and he plays Mr. Napkin with them (see point above). And he’s sensitive, he cries so easily. And he tells the woman he falls in love with her first. And the way he looks at her when he says it – the warmth in the eyes. And he’s got perfectly posh British accent. And they feature him topless for several minutes. And he happens to be a great guy with a face & body of Jude Law. So Jude, don’t worry, your position in my Top 5 remains unwavering.