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But Renrof disagrees with the idea that a ring should hold such value.
II
"I don't think a statement of independence depends on how much you spend," she says. "I think that it kind of backs women into a corner. I don't think that pushing merchandise on somebody qualifies them as a feminist. I'm not a big fan of the campaign."
What Goes Around Comes Around
Diamond-right-hand rings, as advertised by the DPS, may be a new trend, but women have purchased and worn rings on their right hands before 2003.
"Right-hand rings have been around for awhile," says Corey Clark, a sales representative at Mark's Jeweler's. "They have just been made with colored stones and it's been older women who have bought them."
Rich Yeakel, part owner of Mark's Jeweler's says the right-hand ring campaign is just a change of name. He compared the new ring-hand ring campaigns to diamond bracelets.
"Diamond bracelets had been around forever before they began to call them tennis bracelets," Yeakel says. "It's still a diamond bracer."
Renfro says she agrees this is not a new phenomenon. She says she finds it humorous that right-hand rings are being advertised as something new and original. In addition she noticed that the women coming into buy rings have been younger, career women.
"I like to refer to them as the Sex in the City demographic," she says. "These women are in their late 20s or early 30s, are college educated, successful, single and well dressed."
The ads by DPS restate this message. The ads contain a young, attractive woman, dressed in business clothes with a gleaming light coming from the ring finger of their right hand.
Will it hit big?
The jewelers agree that women will continue to purchase rings for themselves,but Yeakel, Renfro,and Zacharias say the trend will fail to catch on in Lawrence.
A report from DPS about the DTC says in 2004 the main goal of the organization was expanding its message to reach a larger audience. The DTC spent 28 percent of its advertising dollars on the right-hand rings campaign alone. According to an Ongoing Momentum Study by the DPS, awareness of right-hand rings among women grew from 25 percent to 39 percent in just 6 months from the start of the campaign. Hurst says he believes the trend will eventually move from the coasts into the Midwest as the advertisements become more prevalent.
Diamond right hand ring
guidelines
Courtesy of www.dcbeersgroup.com
- At least one diamond of 0.02 karat or more
- Negative space between the diamond and the metal
- Diamonds oriented in a north/south direction
- A mix of round and fancy shaped diamonds in the same design,or the same shaped diamonds in a variety of different sizes.
Source: Diamond Promotion Service