Episode 69: Diamonds are for Fraudsters Part II - Oppenheimer Cartel

A Diamond is Forever! We continue our series on the diamond industry with the world's favorite family the Oppenheimers! Together with De Beers they created a cartel that controls the entire diamond market. We discuss how female Don Drapers launched an advertising campaign right after WWII (who needs a sandwich when you can have a diamond?) and created the most successful ad slogan of the 20th century. With the help of an ad agency, De Beers became the original Jacob the Jeweler and outfitted celebrities, films, and tv shows with as many diamonds as they could. The cultural cachet of diamonds got baked into the fabric of our culture. From women buying men diamonds in the 80s to now we all NEED engagement rings. Listen now to see how we've all been artfully conned into believing diamonds are YOUR best friend.

Follow Us: https://twitter.com/seenanow

https://www.instagram.com/justin_williams_comedy/

https://twitter.com/arielleaty

Follow the show on Discord: https://discord.gg/WRZ8zgusPT

Website: https://fraudsters.fm/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fraudstersLPN

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fraudsterslpn/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQwl8sDTVEAxhwJdYgm-yrgIntro

Music Credit and Sound Fx:https://twitter.com/gograntgordon

Season Cover Art by:https://comedyartwork.com/

Resources:

 https://www.npr.org/transcripts/205839105

 https://www.timemaps.com/history/south-africa-1871ad/

 https://brilliantmaps.com/africa-1914/

 https://mapoftheday.quickworld.com/posts/africa-in-1965     https://www.africaguide.com/afmap.htm

 https://www.capetowndiamondmuseum.org/about-diamonds/south-african-diamond-history/

 https://www.gia.edu/gems-gemology/summer-2019-kimberlites-earths-diamond-delivery-system

  https://www.britannica.com/place/Kimberley-South-Africa

 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/

 https://www.debeersgroup.com/about-us/our-operations/sales

 https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~lcabral/teaching/debeers3.pdf

 https://www.debeersgroup.com/about-us/our-operations/sales

Calderisi, R. (2021). Cecil Rhodes and Other Statues: Dealing Plainly with the Past (Kindle). Gatekeeper Press.

Rhodes, The Life & Legend ’90’s TV Series via Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/@wvanderzalm