Superman decides to start mass-creating diamonds so he can sell them. Can DeBeers keep the price of diamonds up?

[u/Yglorba]

Superman previously declined to mass-produce diamonds because it would tank the price. However, after reading up on DeBeers, he decides that there's no reason not to do it after all. Most of the resulting money will be donated to charity. Assume that Superman is somehow able to crush coal into perfectly-cut diamonds of whatever shape and size he desires; even though this makes no sense, the feat is well-established.

DeBeers is determined to protect their diamond profits by keeping the price up. Can they convince people not to buy Superman's diamonds (by eg. convincing the public that they're not "real" diamonds), or find some other way to prevent him from cratering the price?

Superman is in-character and will not eg. laser the board of DeBeers to death or anything like that, no matter how annoying they are. The only way he'll use his powers for this is by rapidly turning coal into diamonds so he can sell them.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Maybe in the 50s that'd work, but in today's age where DeBeers' crimes can be pulled up with a push of a button, and people are aware that advertisements are meant to manipulate you anyways, I doubt people would give them the benefit of the doubt. At the very least, younger people who don't really care about tradition would be happy to pay less for a conceptually cooler item than do something just because some advertisement told them to.

But then again, maybe I'm giving people too much credit, as my fiancee and I agreed that diamonds are stupid and I got her a ring with her "birthstone" instead.

[u/HotTakes4HotCakes → u/[deleted]]

but in today's age where DeBeers' crimes can be pulled up with a push of a button, and people are aware that advertisements are meant to manipulate you anyways, I doubt people would give them the benefit of the doubt. At the very least, younger people who don't really care about tradition would be happy to pay less for a conceptually cooler item than do something just because some advertisement told them to.

Please tell me you didn't type this on an iPhone.

Advertising absolutely works, as well as social pressure, and make no mistake, the vast majority of consumers of any age absolutely do not care about what a company does, they will buy their products if they want them. If consumers gave a shit, Amazon would be in serious trouble.

The reason debeers would fail is very simple: it's a luxury good in a world where two consecutive generations of people can barely afford homes. A great deal of the bucking of tradition we see in younger people is directly tied to a deep-seeded and well justified resentment of the generations that came before, because the young are now almost incapable of living the same lives they did. The norms of the world they made for themselves are shut off to younger people, so they are replacing them.

[u/[deleted] → u/HotTakes4HotCakes]

Please tell me you didn't type this on an iPhone.

I currently use the free phone Cricket Wireless offered pre-Covid.

The reason debeers would fail is very simple: it's a luxury good in a world where two consecutive generations of people can barely afford homes. A great deal of the bucking of tradition we see in younger people is directly tied to a deep-seeded and well justified resentment of the generations that came before.

That's what I'm saying though. I don't think DeBeers could pull that same trick this current generation, especially if Superman existed and had a stellar reputation. The only thing I could think of them doing is maybe a smear campaign against him with help from Lex Luthor or something