Is the diamond engagement ring a scam?

The diamond engagement ring is largely a marketing-created norm that pressures people into overpaying for a symbolic purchase.

The tradition was manufactured by De Beers marketing in the 1930s, and diamonds retain very little of their high retail markup in the resale market.

Though built on clever 20th-century De Beers marketing, a diamond ring is an honest, freely-chosen purchase that delivers the symbolic and emotional value buyers actually want.