Diamond（在线收听）

Diamond

“I love this woman!”----There’s a better way to do it, says the ad: Give her a diamond, or a ¹⁾bunch of them, and she’ll love you back. Which makes me ask, “Why a diamond?” Why not a ruby or an ²⁾emerald, or, what the ³⁾heck, a ⁴⁾toaster or a ⁵⁾kitten? Why did diamonds get to be the “Love and marriage” thing? Why, everywhere, do couples, who wish to declare their love, go out and pay big bucks for diamonds? One reason we’re given is that diamonds are so ⁶⁾scarce. So, ah, is it true?

Donna: No.

Marketing professor, Donna Bergenstock, points out their ⁷⁾scarcity is a myth created long ago by DeBeers, the South African company that’s dug up most of the world’s diamonds. 

Donna: There are billions of dollars of diamonds sitting in ⁸⁾vaults in London, in South Africa, that DeBeers specifically keeps off the market in order to ⁹⁾artificially raise the price of diamonds. 

The supply’s so vast that if DeBeers hadn’t controlled the world market for decades, diamonds would be much cheaper. 

Donna: A diamond really’s just a piece of ¹⁰⁾carbon. It’s a just a rock. 

Advert: A diamond is forever.

So why is this rock a symbol of love? Because DeBeers told us it was. Since 1940, DeBeers’ brilliant ad campaign’s been convincing Americans that diamonds mean love.

Garfield: Unlike most advertising, people just completely bought it. 

Bob Garfield, of Advertising Age Magazine, says it’s one of the best ad campaigns ever done.

Garfield: It created, out of whole cloth, the ¹¹⁾notion that at your engagement, you must give your ¹²⁾intended a diamond. 

But years of listening to this ¹³⁾propaganda has convinced us that giving diamonds is an age-old tradition. This is just a sales ¹⁴⁾pitch.

钻石代表我的心

“我爱她！”——有一个比大喊大叫更好的办法，广告上这么说：“送她一颗钻石，或一条钻链，她就会爱你”。这不禁让我想问：“为什么一定要送钻石呢？”为什么不送红宝石、绿宝石，或者，去他的，就送个烤面包机或小猫咪好了？为什么钻石象征着“爱和婚姻”？为什么各地的情侣宣布他们的爱情时，就会去花大把票子买钻石呢？我们听到的理由是：钻石太稀有了。所以说，啊哈，真是这样的吗？

唐娜：不是。

营销学教授唐娜·伯根斯多克指出“钻石稀有”是德比尔公司——一家挖掘出世界上大部分钻石的南非公司——在多年以前虚构出来的童话。

唐娜：在伦敦、南非的地下存放着价值亿万美元的钻石，德比尔公司有意不将它们投放市场，目的就是要人为地抬高钻石的价格。

钻石的销量很大，如果不是数十年来德比尔公司一直在控制着全球市场，钻石的价格可能会便宜得多。

唐娜：其实钻石就是一颗碳，就是一块石头而已。

广告：钻石恒久远.

可为什么这块石头成了爱的象征？因为德比尔公司告诉我们它是。自1940年以来，德比尔公司魅惑人心的广告深入美国人心，使人们认为钻石代表着爱。

嘉菲德：与大部分广告效果不同的是，人们全深信不疑。

《广告时代杂志》的鲍伯·嘉菲德说，这是有史以来最成功的广告宣传。

嘉菲德：它凭空地制造出一个概念：订婚时必须送给爱人一颗钻石。

多年来一直听到这种宣传，让我们相信了送钻石是一个历史渊源的传统。其实，这纯粹是个销售手段。                      

注释:

1) bunch [bQntF] n. 串

2) emerald [5emErEld] n. 绿宝石

3) heck [hek] n.地狱  What the heck! 去他的！

4) toaster [5tEJstE(r)] n. 烤面包机

5) kitten [5kitn] n. 小猫

6) scarce [skZEs] a. 稀有的

7) scarcity [5skZEsiti] n. 稀有

8) vault [vC:lt] n. 地窖，地下室

9) artificially [7B:ti5fiFEli] adv. 人为地

10) carbon [5kB:bEn] n. 碳

11) notion [5nEuFEn] n. 概念，观点

12) intended [in5tendid] n. 已经订婚的人

13) propaganda [7prCpE5^AndE] n. 宣传

14) pitch [pitF] n. 顶点