The diamond industry is on the verge of a unique turning point. Man-made diamonds are on the rise, threatening to disrupt the traditional industry that mines diamonds. Although the mined-diamond industry isn’t explicitly stating any concerns, it’s easy to infer them by studying their latest marketing blitz.

Real is Rare

The Diamond Producers Association (DPA), an organization composed of the biggest diamond companies in the world, is currently pushing a new marketing campaign called Real is Rare. In it, they’re pushing the rarity of naturally occurring diamonds. By focusing of millennial women, the DPA is promoting the notion that women want luxury items that are seen as valuable and authentic.

The concept of authenticity is key to understanding their concerns. By promoting mined-diamonds as authentic, they imply that artificially produced diamonds are somehow not authentic. This tactic is similar to ones used by organic food companies, who imply other food is somehow not organic or not natural. Reading the DPAs use of the word “authentic” can yield the same insight. From this, it’s easy to infer their concerns.

Artificial Diamonds

Man-made or artificial diamonds are produced in laboratories. They’re indistinguishable from naturally occurring diamonds in their composition as well as their appearances. They threaten to upend the diamond industry by providing products identical to naturally occurring ones. Since artificial diamonds can be produced in a lab, they can be created and distributed in numbers large enough to affect the cost and value of naturally occurring diamonds.

This of course presents a problem to diamond manufacturers, one they’re willing to fight. If this marketing campaign is an indicator, they’re apparently doing so by labeling artificial diamonds as somehow inauthentic and therefore less valuable.

It’s interesting to note that the research published by the DPA doesn’t mention women’s attitudes toward artificial diamonds. In fact, it glosses over the issue altogether by focusing solely on naturally occurring diamonds, effectively demoting the status of artificial diamonds by ignoring them altogether.

While they appeal to people on the open market, diamond producers are also fighting moves by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Currently, the FTC requires the use of phrases such as “laboratory grown” or “lab-created” when promoting or selling artificial diamonds. Such labels might affect a person’s perception of artificial diamonds, so it’s easy to understand why companies that produce them would like to shed the word “laboratory.”

The FTC is currently weighing allowing manufacturers to use the term “cultured” when marketing artificial diamonds. Man-made diamond companies embrace the term. However, mined-diamond companies oppose it because it eliminates the use of the word “laboratory.” Once that word is removed—and is replaced by the more ambiguous “cultured”—mined-diamond companies might find it harder to distinguish their products from man-made diamonds.

The Value of Diamonds

The value of mined-diamonds is predicated in part on marketing and market factors. Mined-diamond companies bank on the perception people have of diamonds, that they’re inherently valuable. This perception is largely the result of decades of marketing.

Mined-diamond companies can bank on the notion that diamonds hold more value than they do in two ways: they can allow decades of marketing to inform people and they can withhold the distribution of large amounts of unearthed diamonds, thus increasing the value of those in circulation. If diamonds are rare, then they’re worth more. If they’re worth more, then they mean more to people who own them. Such ways of thinking has fueled the market for years.

It’s easy to see why man-made diamonds pose a threat. Laboratories can produce them without the need to put people into fields throughout the world. They can reduce overhead while manufacturing large numbers of diamonds. Since they can manufacture and distribute diamonds cheaply, man-made diamond companies threaten to drive prices down across the board. To those companies banking on the perception of diamonds as valuable, such a situation creates an existential crisis.

While the DPA mounts a new campaign designed to reinforce the notion that diamonds are valuable and authentic, the man-made diamond industry is building steam. By relabeling their products as cultured, manufactures are in the process of blurring the lines between man-made and mined-diamonds. The process of producing diamonds in labs instead of unearthing them is cheaper, which could drive down the price of all diamonds. It’s easy to understand why the DPA is moving to label mined-diamonds as “authentic” while implying that man-made diamonds are somehow less real, rare, or valuable.