The Right Hand Ring

Who says a woman needs a man to buy her a diamond ring?

In fall 2003, the Diamond Trading Company, a subsidiary of diamond king De Beers, launched an ad campaign for the right-hand ring trend with such tag lines as "Your left hand lives for love. Your right hand lives for the moment," and "Your left hand declares your commitment. Your right hand is a declaration of independence."

De Beers launched its “Right-Hand-Ring” campaign targeting women with enough money to indulge themselves in fine jewelry without waiting for a man to do it. On one hand, they insist that women be authoritative in getting what they want, recognize the independent parts of themselves, and celebrate their femininity. On the other hand, there is the implication that in order to celebrate your womanhood in this way, you must already fit a certain standard of woman: “your left hand rocks the cradle”, “your left hand celebrates the day you were married”, “your left hand says ‘we’”, “your left hand says you’re taken”, “your left hand believes in shining armor”. In some of the advertisements, the model’s wedding band is displayed as her left hand is folded demurely in her lap or resting on a table. De Beers is clearly defining “women of the world” to mean romantic, married, heterosexual mothers with enough disposable income to indulge oneself in diamonds. Furthermore, De Beers’ Ameri-centric slogan “women of the world, raise your right hand” directly contradicts itself: many Jews, Muslims, and Orthodox Christians wear wedding bands on the right hand, as do citizens of India, Spain, Venezuela, Germany, Russia, and most of Eastern Europe. After digesting all of this, remember that Da Beers means this ad campaign to be one that empowers women.