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Friday, December 7, 2007
Holiday Hateress Continued
Thanks to the little one for inspiring me to continue my rampage of holiday hateress. The jewelry commercials! The jewelry commercials! O my gentle Lord, the endless jewelry commercials. The endless insinuation that the only meaningful way to say I Love You (or Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukah or Thanks For Not Running Away With The Grocery Bagger And Leaving Me With All These Kids Even Though I Fail To Show You Affection Except With Material Objects) is a piece of special jewelry, especially diamond jewelry. My least favorite ad of the season ends with the narrator warning, "This offer is not for everyone. It's only for men ... who love women ... who love diamonds." Insert sound of grinding teeth here.
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3 comments:
Damn, I added to the wrong post.
.
Recap:
Don't forget that all this is due to the DeBeer's cartel that has (among other things):
1) Supported Apartheid for decades (centuries?)
2) Had a stranglehold on 80% of the world's diamonds for years
3) Dealt in conflict/blood diamonds for many years
4) Conspired with General Electric to fix the price of industrial diamonds
5) Currently holds a legal exemption in South Africa from the mandatory dust suppression method of spraying water when drilling, on the grounds that the dust in its mines is uniquely harmless. However, dust in a diamond mine can cut and scar the lungs of mineworkers
6) Accused of profiting from the abuse of people in the developing countries in which the company operates
7) Are the evil mastermind that launched marketing campaigns that created/implanted the following ideas in the public consciousness:
a) that engagement/wedding rings MUST be diamond rings. (This is actually a relatively recent concept.)
b) that the "normal" amount one should spend on a diamond ring is roughly two-months of one's salary
c) (their most current endeavor) that laboratory-created diamonds (that are chemically identical and optically indistinguishable even by professional vendors)are inferior to "real" (mined) diamonds. Because if people realized that created diamonds were just as good, then DeBeers cartel would crumble and the inflated price of diamonds would plummet.
Still. I would get more use out of a pendant than what they're marketing to MEN, these days. Have you seen the one where the husband tosses all other gifts but the rotary shaver? Really? That's your heart's desire? I can't think of a more contemptuous gift. Nothing says I don't know one thing about you like a rotary shaver.
My favorite is still the one where the women gets a CAR for Christmas! Good lord, talk about raising the ante and unrealistic expectations. I'm thinking a nice warm pair of woolen socks, myself . .
By the way, in my experience, most of the time when men who are already married to women give them jewelry, it's because they've done something really awful (like beaten the crap out of them or had an affair), and then in return for taking him back, she gets jewelry. The price of that kind of jewelry is just a little too high -- it costs all your self-esteem and all your pride.
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