Love it or hate it, it seems that DeBeers has hit upon a campaign that speaks directly to women. The Diamond Trading Company, a subsidiary of DeBeers, has created the right-hand ring, the new "must have" item. Put away your wallets, gentlemen - this ring is targeted to the mature, professional female who can afford to buy her own jewelry.
"Your left hand says 'we,' " reads one ad. "Your right hand says 'me.' " "Your left hand is your heart," claims another. "Your right hand is your voice."
Here's a quote from a recent article in the Sacramento Bee:
Its aggressive media and marketing campaign has been a success, with celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker and Halle Berry wearing the rings, consumer recognition of the "right-hand ring" jumping from 25 percent to 59 percent, and some predicting higher holiday jewelry sales partially due to increased interest in the rings."It's a clever idea," says Michael Solomon, an Auburn University professor and author of "Conquering Consumerspace: Marketing strategies for a branded world."
He said the diamond merchants have tapped into what he calls "the 'Sex and the City' demographic," named for the HBO hit series, featuring Parker, that chronicles the lives of four professional women with disposable income.
Think this campaign speaks directly to the heart of a woman about her own personal value? I do... and I don't even wear diamonds.
I love the concept of a right hand ring!
I'm 31 and married does that mean advertisers should disregard me as simply a wife or mother? I don't think so.
I work in the media, I earn my own money, I have my own voice. Sell to me not a stereotype.
I'm not looking to buy jewellery at the moment but when I do it'll be a right hand ring and I'll be going to DeBeers.
Raise your right hand.
Posted by: Shelly on the Telly | March 27, 2005 at 10:12 PM
You work in the media? Really? Perhaps you should learn how to 1) punctuate properly and 2) learn how to spell JEWELRY.
Do you really need a "right-hand ring" to show you are independent and successful? Isn't that something you find in yourself? Do you not see how blatantly the diamond industry is exploiting women with this campaign? Can you not see they are a multi-billion dollar company vying for your hard-earned dollars by linking purchasing their product to YOUR power? You do not need a ring to show you are worth it. By spending more, you are only making them richer. Why not spend that money on a vacation to another country & get some culture in ya?!
Lowculture.com has another, more appropriate version of the ads:
Our left hand says 'greed.' Our right hand says 'monopoly.' Our left hand held down the slave laborer working in the mine. Our right hand searched his ass for any contraband. Women of the world, raise your right hand in favor of exploitation.
Posted by: Holly Golightly | April 13, 2005 at 11:27 PM
I like the idea, but no woman needs to prove herself with materialistic objects. I am only in college but I think having a great job or a wonderful family is a gem on its own. All women should be proud to have any of those things. If you have all of them, thats fabulous too.
Posted by: brooke | April 25, 2005 at 10:31 AM
Funny, I saw a beautiful diamond ring the other day that I wanted to buy to wear just because I loved it and then I saw this campaign. No one needs to get fiesty about this. It's a fun idea. Great marketing pitch. I'm impressed. Most intelligent women know this is a marketing pitch and aren't trying to prove something to the world. If they like it, they like it. If they don't, they don't. I think it's a fun idea.
Posted by: Cathy | August 31, 2005 at 05:21 AM
To Shelley: Make sure you are aware of spelling conventions before you nitpick and disparage. You come off sounding illeducated and petty when you're wrong. And you ARE wrong. "Jewellery" is a British variant of "jewelry" and is in common usage in the U.K. and Canada at least.
This is a genius marketing ploy in the tradition of De Beers marketing to suit their commercial needs. Go read this article: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/198202/diamond
Then decide if you really want to be manipulated to think that a diamond ring on your right hand has anything to do with your success and power.
Posted by: Allison | February 22, 2006 at 09:14 AM
I misinterpreted how names were assigned to comments, and see that I meant to address my comments about spelling to Holly who responded to Shelley.
Posted by: Allison | February 22, 2006 at 09:15 AM
The claim "Raise your right hand" is a slap in the face to many victims in Sierra Leone, who lost their right or left hands and limbs in the course of the civil war there - which was about diamonds and our hunger for them.
Cf. http://sierraeye.blogspot.com/search/label/Blood%20diamonds
Posted by: Philippe | February 17, 2007 at 11:41 PM