When “Blood Diamond” starring Leonardo DiCaprio was about to air, every retail jeweler in America was wondering what effect the movie would have on the demand for diamond jewelry. To a lot of people’s surprise demand was relatively unaffected that Holiday season and sales were great. We prepared ourselves to answer all of the hard questions that were headed our way; questions like “How do you know where your diamonds come from?” and “Are these diamonds like the ones I saw in the movie?” but not many people asked. We never got to show our chain of warranties, letters to our suppliers and store policy on conflict diamonds. It wasn’t because the clients didn’t care. I speculate that clients held back for fear of insulting their local jewelers who support their charities and community events.
There are many people in the diamond and jewelry industry considered the backlash from “Blood Diamond” to be a non event but I don’t think this is the case. We would have been much better off if clients did ask the hard questions listed above instead of holding them in. I actually had a client wait over a year before he voiced his concerns about “diamonds from Africa” . In that year he bought a few things from me including a watch and some silver jewelry but no diamonds. It wasn’t till after I showed him the measures we are taking to preserve the integrity of our supply chain that he inquired about some diamond studs for his wife. I believe there are a lot more clients like this sitting on the sidelines. As an industry we really haven’t given clients a good reason to come off the sideline and feel good about making a diamond purchase. Jewelers and suppliers are playing defense instead of offense.
Is the time ripe for a change?
Absolutely. I just read an article citing the green movement as a negative factor affecting the demand for jewelry. People care about the environment and people care about people. What I can’t figure out is our industry is willing to take a proactive approach and brand recycled gold as green but doesn’t want to go full bore and brand a socially responsible diamond. Everybody seems to just be easing into it. The diamond industry has done some very positive things over the past several years in countries like Botswana and Namibia where diamonds are a natural resource and the story should be told!
Posted under Beneficiation, Botswana Diamonds
