So What Comes After Diamonds?

March 8, 2017 in Daily Bulletin

The Economist wrote that diamond engagement rings, which became popular in the 1930s, are on their way out. So how will couples signal their love and commitment next? Centuries of ingrained tradition mean that men will likely continue to be expected to make showy displays:

  • In China prospective grooms have to straight up buy a house to prove their eligibility for marriage.
  • Perhaps having a fancy degree and being well-dressed will be enough. But then that doesn’t signal commitment to an individual person.
  • Getting a tattoo of a person’s name, or even cutting off and gifting the tip of a finger, could be a display of loyalty that prospective grooms copy from gangsters.
  • Young entrepreneurs can probably make no bigger display of commitment than handing over 51% of their company’s shares in return for an “I do”.
  • Perhaps the future is digital. Signals like linking Uber accounts – which would link Uber reputation scores, and allow one partner to track the movements of the other – might be enough.

Read more on The Economist.