{"product_id":"a-diamond-is-forever","title":"A Diamond Is Forever","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhat do you view as valuable? In this passage, we see the powerful reign of the Roman Empire, contrasted by the ushering in of an even more powerful kingdom by means of a humble baby and lowly shepherds. What we find worthy is often subjective, or at least dependent on a larger consensus. Consider diamonds. In 1870, “huge diamond mines were discovered near the Orange River, in South Africa, where diamonds were soon being scooped out by the ton. Suddenly, the market was deluged with diamonds. The British financiers who had organized the South African mines quickly realized that their investment was endangered; diamonds had little intrinsic value—and their price depended almost entirely on their scarcity. The financiers feared that when new mines were developed in South Africa, diamonds would become at best only semiprecious gems” (Edward Jay Epstein, “Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?,” \u003cem\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/em\u003e, February 1982, 23, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/media\/archives\/1982\/02\/249-2\/132591340.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ehttps:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/media\/archives\/1982\/02\/249-2\/132591340.pdf\u003c\/a\u003e). Thus, the DeBeers diamond monopoly was formed, and their marketing team came up with the “A Diamond Is Forever” slogan and a message that diamonds were the symbol of true love; this would prove incredibly lucrative for generations. “From 1939 to 1979, De Beers’s wholesale diamond sales in the United States increased from $23 million to $2.1 billion. Over those four decades, the company’s ad budget soared from $200,000 to $10 million a year” (Uri Friedman, “How an Ad Campaign Invented the Diamond Engagement Ring,” \u003cem\u003eThe Atlantic, \u003c\/em\u003eFebruary 13, 2015, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/international\/archive\/2015\/02\/how-an-ad-campaign-invented-the-diamond-engagement-ring\/385376\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ehttps:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/international\/archive\/2015\/02\/how-an-ad-campaign-invented-the-diamond-engagement-ring\/385376\/\u003c\/a\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ministry Pass","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54024437989692,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0852\/9874\/1564\/files\/edgar-soto-gb0BZGae1Nk-unsplash.jpg?v=1787771408","url":"https:\/\/app.ministrypass.com\/products\/a-diamond-is-forever","provider":"Ministry Pass","version":"1.0","type":"link"}