Pandora's PR Master Stroke
May 06, 21 by John Jeffay
Last week I wrote about Diamond Foundry ramping up its production of lab-grown diamonds. A
nd I mentioned new research highlighting increased consumer awareness of lab-growns. I thought that was enough on lab-growns for the time being a
nd set my sights elsewhere for this week's Memo. And then came the Pandora announcement. One of the world's biggest jewelers (26,000 employees, 7,000 outlets, Q1 2021 revenue $726m) said it was ditching mined diamonds and would only use lab-growns. This was big news, far beyond the diamond community. It was the second item on the BBC radio news, with CEO Alexander Lacik making low-carbon promises. It was headlines in every newspaper. It was as though McDonald's had announced it would no longer sell burgers, Apple had decided there was no longer sufficient demand for iPhones, and Coca-Cola had called time on the soft drinks market.