I like the attitude, but I think this is the wrong way to get people away from buying diamond engagement rings.
If people think it is a diamond, it continues to serve DeBeers in promoting the idea that when you get engaged, you buy an expensive diamond ring.
The real solution is to come up with something completely different which still identifies the occasion, but without the geopolitical overhead.
The clever way to do it is to find something that in some way has meaning to both of the couples.
When a friend of mine was proposing to his wife, he was fiddling with a stone he had picked-up by the river side. He didn't have a ring to give her as he couldn't afford a diamond, which she knew. She took the stone from him and suggested they make a necklace out of it.
Now, not every girl is as cool as Christine, but they have the most interesting engagement jewelry of anybody else, and a story that goes along with it which is better than "I looked for the right diamond for ages...".
You're still promoting 'Diamonds', which is what you want to get away from. I think it is very difficult to get promote and get people to not buy vs. buy. Look at the fur industry as an example. I don't think the anti-fur people have been very successful.
How would you measure diamonds people don't buy? It's difficult as a negative input. What you really want to do, if you really want to do this at all, is figure out what is better than a diamond.
I can't say I really have much thoughts on it. I've never bought a diamond, likely never will (not a new one at least).
If people think it is a diamond, it continues to serve DeBeers in promoting the idea that when you get engaged, you buy an expensive diamond ring.
The real solution is to come up with something completely different which still identifies the occasion, but without the geopolitical overhead.
The clever way to do it is to find something that in some way has meaning to both of the couples.
When a friend of mine was proposing to his wife, he was fiddling with a stone he had picked-up by the river side. He didn't have a ring to give her as he couldn't afford a diamond, which she knew. She took the stone from him and suggested they make a necklace out of it.
Now, not every girl is as cool as Christine, but they have the most interesting engagement jewelry of anybody else, and a story that goes along with it which is better than "I looked for the right diamond for ages...".