Yup, it’s been extremely effective. I got engaged at the end of last year and certain types of people seemed genuinely horrified that I didn’t get a diamond ring.

Anecdotally though those tended to be older folks so I think maybe it’s losing effectiveness and younger people are seeing how absurd and arbitrary the whole thing is.

Tell that to my girlfriend …

Interesting doc on Netflix called Nothing Lasts Forever goes into great detail on the diamond cartel and how ‘synthetic’ diamonds are getting mixed in with mined ones.