It's like Disney with diamonds. But, having also read the post you've linked to, I don't understand what it is about this product that makes DeBeers hypocritical. DeBeers has always stood for wringing profits out of Africa by exploiting Africans. This is perfectly consistent with the company's methods.

Ugh. I feel physically ill looking at that picture.

JTC - yep. It's not at all hypocritical, but it certainly is tasteless. I don't know how much more tasteless that much of the other fakey "ethnic" and "tribal" fashions available on the mass market. It's just particularly icky because it's DeBeers.

When I worked in the jewelry industry several years back, the issue of blood diamonds was actually a big one. Retail sales companies were doing everything they could to try to ensure that what they bought were not conflict diamonds.

I really liked working in the jewelry industry, and at the wholesale level (after the supply level, which DeBeers is) it can be remarkably ethical. It was just difficult for me to turn a blind eye to the supply sources. There are some alternate sources for diamonds - tundra diamonds, etc. but no suppliers can match the quantity of DeBeers. Frankly, 40% sounds like a conservative estimate for the amount of the market that DeBeers controls.

Did I say it made them hypocritical? I think the word I used was "tasteless".

Amanda, you didn't. The article you linked to did. Sorry!

Right, mamawho. I was talking about the post Amanda linked to.

After what happened with Amanda's book illustrations, I can suspect why this might be double trouble.