The Diamond Producers Association has released three videos on Funny or Die to promote natural diamonds—and slam its lab-grown competitors.
The likely-to-be-controversial videos, which use the same actor playing both natural and lab-grown diamonds, mock “factory diamonds” as being “made the same way I make my microwave dinners.”
“When you buy a natural diamond, you know that you’re getting something 100% authentic, unique, and that increases in value in time,” says one video’s copy. “And, that those qualities are what represent your relationship to the person you’re buying it for.”
DPA chief executive officer Jean-Marc Lieberherr says that the videos were created in association with the humor website.
“The Funny or Die team was given license to talk about natural and lab-grown diamonds in a fun, irreverent, yet respectful manner, on key questions of value, uniqueness, and origin,” Lieberherr says. “The three videos use a well-known advertising trope (modern Mac versus original PC) and interestingly reverse the roles between new and original—forcing a different look at the question of what authentic and original mean in the context of diamonds. The videos have led to positive engagement, and we have also learned how humor can play a role in our work.”
The first two videos have racked up over 400,000 Facebook views each and can be seen below:
Natural diamonds are rare gems older than life itself and 100% unique. Lab-grown diamonds are made in a microwave.
Posted by Funny Or Die on Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Natural diamonds are one-of-a-kind, formed over billions of years. Lab-grown diamonds are mass-produced in a microwave.
Posted by Funny Or Die on Monday, October 21, 2019
Here is the third video, posted on Twitter:
Natural diamonds only increase in value. Lab-grown diamonds do not. #ad @realisadiamond Learn More: https://t.co/l3yYdX2T6u pic.twitter.com/dW1QsP1UWs
— Funny Or Die (@funnyordie) October 28, 2019
The videos, which include the lab-grown stand-in futilely protesting that there is “nothing fake about me,” are sure to annoy many in that sector, who have long argued that lab-grown diamonds are just as “real” as natural diamonds.
The Federal Trade Commission has called it deceptive to use certain terms to “imply that a lab-grown diamond (i.e., a product with essentially the same optical, physical, and chemical properties as a mined diamond) is not, in fact, an actual diamond,”
The assertion that “natural diamonds only increase in value” is also subject to debate. While lab-grown diamond prices have generally fallen, in recent years, natural diamond prices have also dropped, if by a lesser percentage.
(Image courtesy of Funny or Die)
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