knowledge @ work 4

THE ASMI ADVERTISEMENT

This advertisement has great aesthetic beauty. It has a visual appeal. It talks about the longevity of the life of a diamond. This appeals to our emotions and develops a feeling of security. Diamonds are always associated with beauty, and this advertisement stands up to the standards. However the question is that are we looking for the security we find in that stone or its beauty?
The thing that startles me the most about such advertisements is that we don’t know if the advertisement is looking good because of the product or the model selling it. Why can’t they use a simple, average looking woman? I guess that is the fallacy of man. The company is only catering to this fallacy. We only like truth in its sugar coated gilded form. When we go to a five star, more then often the food is identical to home food or a very ordinary preparation. What makes it attractive is the arrangement, the lavish ambience and the luring atmosphere. Here we tend to loose our rational. We pay ten times the price for the same preparation.
Diamonds have great symbolism to human life. Uncut diamonds are like spare moments. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life. Internally diamonds nothing more than chunks of coal. Also according to the bible men are nothing but dust. As John Webster said, “Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, like diamonds we are cut with our own dust.” Thus this proves that only perseverance and hardships can produce beautiful form. Even iron, it can only be moulded once it is smelted in hot furnaces. We see the riches but never bother to appreciate the path in which they were achieved. The only time we realise the value of diamonds is when we have to pay for them. Why has everything become so monetary and superficial? People only see the product, if it is good they accept it and if it does not satisfy their demand it is worthless. The toil gone in producing the product is insignificant.
This advertisement talks about the longevity of the life of diamonds. In this uncertain life, we are always searching for certainty. I guess the catch line ‘diamonds are forever’ satisfies this need. These insecure emotions have always been exploited as a means to appeal to the mob. Security is a universal feeling that everyone yearns for. Why did the people of Germany feel under care of Hitler? He gave them belief in the strength of Germany. The country had just come out of a shattering world war. The treaty if Versailles had disillusioned them. In such scenario they had become fragile and insecure. Hitler purged their need and provided them certainties in the future and the people succumbed under his power. But my question is, are diamonds forever? Does anything last forever? The reason that diamonds never die is not a reason enough to say diamonds are forever. It is an argument ad ignorantium, where if you cannot prove the death of diamonds so they live forever. But they could get lost. Few new mines discovered and the prices would fall. It is really not forever. According to the black hole theory nothing lasts forever, everything is sucked into the black hole. So why don’t we devote our resources for other more pious deeds like charity rather than just satisfying our insecurity and aesthetic needs.
Thus we see that the advertisement is a successful promotional tool but we as knower’s need to see beyond the attractive model and understand the value of the diamond. It is not just a piece of stone; it is a symbol of human life.