Global Public Relations project De Beers is the family company founded by Cecil Rhodes in 1888.

De Beers is the company that dominated the diamond mining, trading and manufacturing sectors in the World. They operate in more than 20 countries across six continents and employing more than 16 000 people. Mining operations of De Beers takes place mostly in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Canada. Recently the whole diamond industry had suffered from the conflict diamonds or bloody diamonds problem. According to Global Witness, conflict diamonds are the one that are used to fuel violent conflicts and human rights abuses. They are the one that funded brutal conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cote dIvore. These conflicts have resulted in the death and displacement of millions of people. Global Witness was the first organizations that reported the problem to public opinion. The report A Rough Trade was released in 1998, exposing the role of diamonds in funding the civil war in Angola. Years of campaigning, and negotiations between diamond producing, and trading countries, industry and civil society resulted in International certification scheme known as the Kimberly Process. Kimberly Process was established in 2003 but tree years later, Blood Diamond movie directed by Edward Zwick draw attention of whole World to conflict diamond problem. Movie was nominated for five Academy Awards what help to draw more attention to conflict diamonds problem. It tells a story about two South Africans, a white mercenary and a black fisherman, who find a rare pink diamond in late 90s when rebel militias seized control of Sierra Leones diamond mines. They used rough gems to buy weapons they used to slaughter and mutilate many thousands of innocent people. The article Blood Diamond appeared in The Envelope in OCT 2006 telling about the controversy in the diamonds industry over the film Blood Diamond. Even before Blood Diamond became public, De Beers head, Jonathan Oppenheimer, expressed concerns about the film to diamond dealers and retailers at an industry convention in Cape Town in September 2005. "Can you imagine its impact on the Christmas-buying audience in America if the message is not carried through that this is something of the past?" Oppenheimer asked. He also said that this is something that has been managed and taken care of. The article also said that he asked the filmmakers of Blood Diamond to add a disclaimer stating that the events in the film are fictional and relates to the past and that, thanks to the Kimberley Process, which the industry put in place to document where diamonds come from, conflict diamonds end up on the market only very rarely. The filmmakers declined to add the disclaimer. De Beers then hired Public Relations company Sitrick and Co., who specializes in Hollywood scandals, while the diamond industry also started a PR campaign by publishing full-page ads in newspapers and online, explaining the industry efforts to control the supply and sale of

blood diamonds. The member of World Diamond Council publicity team said that The PR campaign was never designed to fight the film. They didnt want to be identified but wanted to add that the industry was happy that the issues were being discussed. The publicity campaign, he said, "was designed to educate consumers about a story we should have told years ago." A lot of organizations like Amnesty International also continued their campaign against blood diamonds trade. Amnesty International and Global Witness have prepared a guide to buying diamonds before Valentine Day. Amnesty International France has also developed a postcard campaign to focus attention on this issue, as seen below.

What was more controversial, a representative of De Beers claimed that, . . . if you are sitting in Tel Aviv or Moscow or New York whatever the potential for positive identification you have not a clue where they [diamonds] came from. Just to be clear if he [diamond seller] says they are Scottish diamonds [there are no diamond mines in Scotland], you take his word for it . . . they could be diamonds from the moon (A Rough Trade: The Role of Companies and Governments in the Angolan Conflict December 1998). Blood Diamond case is relevant because it affects life and human rights of enormous amount of people in Africa. Unfortunately people from other continents still consider Africa as wild country and that problems of African people are so far from our problems that it do not draw enough attention. This case is a perfect example where the past actions and past affairs could come back as boomerang. Kimberly Process was established in 2003 and De Beers believed that this case is already closed and nothing bad can happen. In my opinion De Beers react in the right time but not in the proper way. It was too risky to ask filmmakers to put disclaimer to the movie. De Beers should use the movie as the part of De Beers educational campaign. They should try to become ambassadors of the Conflict Diamonds campaign. They should be the first on the market that delivers their customers

guide to buying diamonds together with Amnesty International or Global Witness. It can push people to be more loyal to the brand as the one that is monitoring the origin of their products. From the other hand it can also affect De Beers image just by association with conflict diamonds and damage made by people that were trading them. However De Beers have to avoid posters and leaflets that show people affected in Africa. They should also pay attention how do they inform people about this issue. It is safer to use concept of Conflict Diamonds rather than Blood Diamonds. It is not a good idea to behave like someone who feels guilty for this issue, rather as someone who feels responsible for Africa and its development. It is better to say loudly about sponsoring schools than about funding artificial limbs for children whose legs or hands were cut by Guerillas. I dont say that they shouldnt do both but they should draw more public attention to the first action. Campaign cant be shocking but should be learning experience. One of the most important things to do is to inform people about the positive actions that were possible only because of the money generated by diamonds industry. They need to know that this industry is extremely important to African economy, education and medical care. We can be sure that after few months people will forget about conflict diamonds. Unfortunately this issue can be recalled by another film, documentary movie or article in the press or in the internet. De Beers must be prepared and keep the campaign running all the time and try to be a part of projects that can be danger to diamonds industry to have a more influence on the shape of final product. Sources:
http://theenvelope.latimes.com/movies/env-et-diamonds10oct10,0,5836118.story?page=2 http://www.debeersgroup.com/en/Inside-De-Beers/What-is-De-Beers/ http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/bd_curriculumguide_0.pdf http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/subjindx/144diam.htm http://www.globalwitness.org/campaigns/conflict/conflict-diamonds http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Beers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Diamond_(film)