Tiffany and Co. appears to be backfiring on its campaign shot with Beyoncé and Jay-Z, part of its strategy to rejuvenate the firm. On August 23, it was announced About Love, which will be presented in September, with the famous yellow Tiffany diamond of more than 128 carats as the protagonist together with the artists’ marriage. However, the criticism has come to date.
Discovered in South Africa in 1877 at the Kimberley Mine by Charles Lewis Tiffany, only three women had worn this diamond before Beyoncé. Among them, Audrey Hepburn in the publicity photos of the film Breakfast with diamonds and Lady Gaga at the Oscars Gala 2019. In fact, the singer of Crazy in love has become the first black woman to do it, something highlighted by the signature as a symbol of the new times.
However, it has not gone unnoticed by many international social media users and columnists. the colonialist and white supremacist past that hides the iconic gem. And, when the diamond was found in South Africa in the 1870s, British forces were in the area conducting conquest maneuvers and applying discriminatory practices against African tribes and workers.
Tiffany’s put Beyoncé in a diamond – “discovered” in a colonial mine in Kimberly in 1877 — that no black woman has ever worn before in an ad with a never-ever-before-seen Basquiat and then pledged $ 2 million in scholarships & internships to HBCUs
– Zoé (@ztsamudzi) August 23, 2021
In such a context, it is considered that the mining industry paved the way for the apartheid and to this day, South Africa’s white minority still holds most of the country’s power and wealth. It is for all this that many see in this jewel both a blood diamond and a symbol of colonial looting. Thus contradicting the will of the campaign to celebrate the liberation of the African American community.
As data that would support the ostentation of wealth as a fantasy far from reality that the campaign intends to highlight, it has been pointed out that African-Americans only own 4% of the total wealth of households in that country. Tiffany has promised that, as part of the campaign, will donate two million dollars to historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) although, for now, it has not been enough to assuage criticism.
Photos | Tiffany’s