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you've made me the happiest man in the
world
Emily will you marry me how sweet you
like it so you're putting a ring on it
what if you were wondering why we put
diamond rings on things we like it all
oh god you're gonna tell us the awful
truth about engagement rings aren't you
yeah I am hi I'm Adam Conover and you
may think of the diamond engagement ring
as a timeless symbol of love but it
turns out this ancient tradition was
invented less than a century ago by the
De Beers diamond corporation before the
1930s nobody exchanged diamond rings
when they got engaged it wasn't a thing
Apple what do you say we get married oh
that's a swell idea Frank what do you
give me I got this shiny red apple sold
oh I love you Frank but in 1938 the De
Beers diamond cartel launched a massive
ad campaign claiming that the only way
for a real man to show his love is an
expensive hunk of crystallized carbon
and we bought that jet now hold on
looks like if I don't buy you one of
these ring dailies then I'm a tiny peck
at pencil neck well it's on the side of
a building so it's gotta be true
chorim's
in fact every element of the traditional
american engagement was designed to make
more money for De Beers how much a drop
on that rock
no like four grand more than your car my
dad said the rule was two months salary
yes sorry dude that's not a rule that's
just an arbitrary number from an old De
Beers ad campaign buy her a diamond
worth one month salary she'll be sure to
love you eternally profits are down
better make it two months this has got
to be the most successful ad campaign of
all time this is like if in 50 years
people were going honey
the same thing again yeah I know that
pizza in the morning peeps in the
evening pizza at supper time when pizzas
on a bagel must eat pizza all the time
well it's not like I'm throwing my money
away I mean at least the ring is worth
something actually diamonds are
intrinsically worthless I refuse to
believe that
well maybe you believe DeBeers chairman
Nicky Oppenheimer who once said quote
diamonds are intrinsically worthless
shut up shut up shut up in fact they're
quite common
the only reason time
are even expensive is that De Beers has
a global monopoly on diamond mining and
they artificially restrict the supply to
Jack the prices up but in reality those
have a ton of them
these are extremely rare a new attention
to that which means that diamond you
just blew your savings on has virtually
no resale value
that's why DeBeers wants you to think a
diamond is forever if you never try to
sell it you'll never figure out how
badly you got fine so what do we
do about it nothing they've got us by
the balls a century of advertising has
embedded the idea of a diamond
engagement ring so deeply in our culture
that even knowing all that doesn't get
you out of buying an engagement ring
seriously give it a shot okay Emily will
you marry me I'm not giving you a ring
because the concept of an engagement
ring is a scam on the part of the De
Beers Corporation but we could open it
joint checking account sorry dude
I want that rock well thanks man no
problem
join me next time on Adam ruins life's
greatest pleasures when I'll be talking
about how puppies only pretend to love
you in order to mooch off your food
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