In the 1940s, the advertising agency, N.W. Ayer, created for then-client, DeBeers Consolidated Mines, a campaign that wedded the values of patriotism, American citizenship, and luxury consumerism through advertising copy. The text and accompanying images touted what they termed “Fighting Diamonds.” While most American military and labor propaganda of World War II encouraged civilians to sacrifice, ration, and save, “Fighting Diamonds” ads assured would-be buyers that their wartime gemstone diamond and jewelry splurges supported the Allied Forces. This article examines the connections between American military recruitment history and DeBeers’ “Fighting Diamond” advertisements via a series of archival materials from the N.W. Ayer and Son Advertising Agency Records at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History Archives Center. I argue that “Fighting Diamonds” were part of a growing trend within advertisement propaganda that positioned American political participation and civic duties increasingly as consumer decisions.
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