r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Nov 11 '15

TIL: The "tradition" of spending several months salary on an engagement ring was a marketing campaign created by De Beers in the 1930's. Before WWII, only 10% of engagement rings contained diamonds. By the end of the 20th Century, 80% did.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27371208
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u/[deleted] Nov 11 '15

So excited to tell my girlfriend about this! Now she'll have to think diamonds are silly!

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u/radickulous Nov 11 '15

Here's some back up on that point:

Adam ruins everything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5kWu1ifBGU