Letters

The Diamond Industry Is Not Funding Conflicts in Africa

As head of the De Beers account at J. Walter Thompson, I found Debra Goldman’s recent column [Consumer Republic, July 24] to be misguided.

She implies that the new strategy announced by De Beers is a reaction to the issue of diamonds being used to fund conflict in areas of Africa. While this is a problem that is of tremendous concern to De Beers, it’s in no way related to the recently announced business initiatives and decision to sign the advertising with the Diamond Trading Co.

While only 4 percent of world diamond production comes from areas of conflict, De Beers and the diamond industry as a whole have enacted measures to get this number down to zero.