V.V.F.

art / comics / culture / occult

amber-and-ice:

I would like to state for the record that the way we do marriage proposals in modern society is really shitty.

One person, generally the male, gets weeks and months and sometimes years to think about this decision, and the other person, generally female, has like…what? 20 seconds to decide?

The hell with that! What kind of bullshit is that anyway? It’s totally unfair, springing that on someone out of nowhere!

Take note, hypothetical future husband: you had better talk to me about this beforehand so that when you propose to me with the Evenstar I will be entirely prepared for it.

This custom was born from a global marketing campaign by DeBeers Diamond Company that started back in the 50s. Research said that if women were allowed to pick their own engagement ring, they would go with less expensive options than their fiancees. So they invented the entire concept of the surprise proposal, to encourage men to secretly purchase the most dazzling rock they could possibly afford. All the while subtly implying that it was unmanly not to spend all that money on your intended wife, or that the proposal couldn’t be taken seriously unless the guy was ready with a ring. It fed into a lot of male insecurity bullshit, and it worked. 

In addition, many people mistakenly believe that diamonds don’t depreciate in value - this is a myth that DeBeers consciously perpetuated with the “diamond is forever” slogan. So on top of saving all his money to buy what’s essentially a worthless rock, if a guy’s intended fiancee says no, he’s stuck with the ring anyway. It’s a great con, and they’ve been running it all this time. 

Tagged #feminism  #history  #advertising  #memes  

Posted on 1 July, 2012
Reblogged from amber-and-ice  

289 notes

  1. pellmellbells reblogged this from vvf
  2. thaddeusgrey reblogged this from dysanic
  3. monkeyislanddweller reblogged this from dysanic
  4. dysanic reblogged this from religiositytothefuzzywuzzies
  5. wassup-holmes reblogged this from strut and added:
    Yep, diamonds are a total racket. Until DeBeers had a monopoly on them and started this kind of advertising they weren’t...
  6. thisiswhatnerdylookslike reblogged this from calico-kat
  7. calico-kat reblogged this from strut
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  9. polymethodic reblogged this from ajora
  10. ajora reblogged this from vvf
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  12. tetradicmechanist reblogged this from thepunalsorises
  13. setting-my-soul-on-fire reblogged this from holyheadsharpies
  14. sunday4rose reblogged this from noonies
  15. strut reblogged this from hephs-thighs
  16. shuvva reblogged this from dutchbag
  17. lenaliar reblogged this from theonlyoneilune
  18. thecoffeebreaklife reblogged this from siddharthasmama
  19. thegeminisage reblogged this from theonlyoneilune
  20. theonlyoneilune reblogged this from vvf and added:
    Romance©, property of Corporate Business.
  21. lumberjack-of-lies reblogged this from theunicorn-princess
  22. caffeinated-insomniac reblogged this from dutchbag
  23. goregons reblogged this from wybyle
  24. theonetruesmiler reblogged this from wwanchors and added:
    If I were to have a ring, I’d want a plain silver with an intricate design on it. Or I might just go with a symbolic...
  25. laurbits reblogged this from vvf and added:
    Now you know…
  26. daisy--chained reblogged this from hephs-thighs and added:
    Another reason for why I don’t want or buy diamonds.
  27. chaos-in-uriahs-lap reblogged this from colloquialfiller
  28. wwanchors reblogged this from hephs-thighs
  29. hephs-thighs reblogged this from kosmonauttihai and added:
    Very interesting. I was aware of some of the serious ethical problems in the diamond industry, but I hadn’t thought...


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