Well, I'm speechless.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. It's just one more image propagating the myth that women's affections can be bought, stereotypically with jewlery. Because, guys, if the woman you want rejects you, just keep buying her things until she says yes.

There is an alternate way to look at the picture. You see, the woman has pledged her virginity until marriage at one of those creepy purity balls. Now that the guy has finally ponied up with the ring, they can get down to business.

It reminds me of a parody of the old shadow silloutte diamond commercials. 'Diamonds. She'll pretty much have to.'

I don't know, I think that guys that just keep buying things for the girls that reject them is a great way to help equalize the disparity in income between the sexes. Especially when it comes to jewelery or electronics, she can always hawk it for a Prada bag, nipple clamps, or donate it to the charity of her choice--whatever her personal preference happens to be.

ahhh... another divorce in the making...

I, for one, find it refreshing that she at least waited until she saw what was inside before she made herself available. Imagine the embarassment if she offered herself up only to find that that little blue box contained something from one of those vending machines in the front of a grocery store? *Rolls eyes*

"Cubic Zirconia: The Sex-Maker!"

Well, hasn't buying women things traditionally been the way men attain women's affection? This thread just reminds me of when Kobe Bryant *cheated* on his wife and then bought her like, a million dollar ring or something? I was reading later in Details an article about how cheating is getting more expensive for men thanks to Kobe and the like. I think for the longest time there's been the mentality that "If I buy her X she'll do this" whether or not that's marry him or forgive him.

Wait. Does that work? Crap. My approach has been all wrong..

For some men I think it does. It's that whole, "buying affection". I was always told that men can't emotinally express themselves so the whole buying flowers after a fight and what have you is there way of getting the woman back. I personally would find the practice offensive if a guy cheated on me and then came back at me with a ring, I don't care how expensive, it just shows me that he thinks my feelings can be bought off in some way without actually dealing with me.

This doesn't make sense. Like half of all pregnancies occur outside of marriage.

I was always told that men can't emotinally express themselves so the whole buying flowers after a fight and what have you is there way of getting the woman back.

Please tell me it was just one douchebag...

"I was always told that men can't emotinally express themselves so the whole buying flowers after a fight and what have you is there way of getting the woman back."

There is actually a handbook to guide us through this. How many flowers, what kind, in a vase, basket, etc. In extreme cases, we might have to upgrade to jewelry. It can get pretty expensive. I will say it is much easier than having to actually think or express emotions though. I mean, we wouldn't actually have to work at having a relationship.

Heh. I'm imagining one of those guides, like the ones that tell you that the first anniversary is paper and the fifth is tin, or whatever.

Ooh, now I'm imagining a mastercard commercial:

a dozen red roses: $35
a bottle of champagne: $50
a diamond ring: $2000 (I'm guessing?)
never having to actually express emotion or take responsibility for your relationship: priceless.

There is actually a handbook to guide us through this.

There is?! Ohhh shoot. And here I've spent all that effort over the last 10 years actually working at having a relationship with my spouse. Expressing emotions. Listening. Working at being empathetic.

and I could have bought a book that would've told me what flowers to buy?!

aaaahhhhh

EG,

a diamond ring: $2000 (I'm guessing?)

I want your connections. ;->

Oh, well, Shows how inexperienced I am in the ways of the diamond, eh?

As of right now I have had it only happen once but have seen it happen in other friend's relationships as well. As a freshman in college this guy I was dating was cheating on me with his ex girlfriend and he takes her out on Valentine's Day and she ends the relationship and he comes to my dorm and gives me a single rose as an apology, and I'm pretty damn sure that rose had been hers. I'd like to say I told him to go f*ck himself but I gave him one more chance (which was his last). Hey, I was 19 and had never had a boyfriend before.

"Now that the guy has finally ponied up with the ring, they can get down to business."

Well I only get down with a guy when the diamond is conflict-free. LOL

Totally, FF. I don't spread my legs for blood diamonds.

Are these diamonds really conflict free, or is it a euphemism for "There's no conflict anymore because big business/the military won"?

If I get married, I pretty much have decided not to get a diamond. In fact, I think it would be really romantic if I spent a whole day walking around a city with my boyfriend, and he bought some sort of cheap ring (like something from an arcade or a cheap little shop) and used that to propose. It turns something cheap into something priceless.

And diamonds are just not my thing anyway. My wedding band would hopefully be plain gold, with initials inscribed on the inside.

I do know of some girls, however, who would turn down a guy if he didn't propose with exactly the right kind of diamond ring. Ugh.

Hey, I got into fights when I said I didn't see any point in caring about rings. If you need a diamond ring to love your boyfriend, perhaps you don't love him as much as you think you do.

This makes me think of that MasterCard commercial with the Japanese woman and her white boyfriend. Every time it says, "Ring: $9,000" I cringe. I mean COME ON. And they don't ever LOOK rich they just look like your average income couple. I can't imagine spending that much money on a tiny little thing that really makes no difference to the relationship.

That just means you don't get relationships... unreflective traditionalists say so, so it must be true.

I want to turn the "I don't spread my legs for blood diamonds" comment into a t-shirt or something.

That said, I hope I do get a conflict-free or man-made diamond someday. They're pretty. If I have to buy it for myself, so be it, but I think I'm exercising my right to own exactly one thing that I (or someone else) paid way the hell too much for.

Maybe it was a diamond clit ring?

What a stupid ad. Not only is it phenomenally offensive to women, I can't imagine it's terribly effective with men, either.
I mean, a man in the market for an engagement ring presumably intends to propose to a woman he loves and wants to spend the rest of his life with. An ad that implies the love of his life will happily put out for whichever man hands her the biggest rock (therefore he'd better spend a lot to make sure that man is HIM) doesn't strike me as a good way to sell your jewelry.
Most men really dislike the notion that they're just wallets with legs and any woman they're with is only with them until she can "trade up" to a better, richer man. They also tend to be very offended when someone calls the woman they love a whore.

The only sort of man I can imagine would find this ad appealing would be one that's very young, socially naive, and raised on abstinence-only education--one who really, really wants to have sex but believes that the only way he can acceptably do so is by "purchasing" a wife via a wedding ring.
This ad definitely fits nicely into that scenario.

I do know of some girls, however, who would turn down a guy if he didn't propose with exactly the right kind of diamond ring.

I specifically didn't have a ring when I proposed to my (now) wife. My thought process was that it was going to be a piece of jewelry that she'd (hopefully) wear for the rest of her life so she ought to be able to pick it out.

Luckily for me, she appreciated that sentiment. Not that it didn't make for some awkward moments during our engagement: "oh...you two are engaged? Wow that's great. Lets see your ring."

That reminds me of an incredibly sexist ad I saw once on the back of a bus. I almost called to the company to complain. It was for a local florist's, and showed bouquets in small, medium, and large, with the caption, "How Mad Is She Really?"

Anybody who got me angry and then brought me flowers to try to make it all better would wind up either wearing or eating that bouquet...

I do know of some girls, however, who would turn down a guy if he didn't propose with exactly the right kind of ... ring.

I'm actually one of those girls. I personally can't stand diamonds, and don't like large rings. If a guy had proposed to me with a gigantic diamond solitaire, I would have said no. It'd be obvious he doesn't know me.

That said, my husband proposed with a beautiful lab-grown (Chatham) emerald. Prettiest ring I've ever seen.