The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has issued a ruling against Skydiamond following a complaint lodged by the Natural Diamond Council (NDC). The complaint pertained to an advertisement released by Skydiamond in February 2023. The ad made bold claims such as “Say hello to the world’s first and only diamond made entirely from the sky” and “We make diamonds using four natural ingredients, the sun, the wind, rain and something we have too much of, atmospheric carbon.” Additionally, the advertisement asserted that the company’s jewelry featured the world’s “rarest diamonds.” The NDC contested whether these statements sufficiently conveyed that Skydiamond was marketing lab-grown diamonds, not natural ones. The ruling was delivered on April 10.
Owned by Dale Vince, founder of energy firm Ecotricity, Skydiamond argued that its visuals and information adequately signaled that its product was not mined and thus did not require terms like “synthetic” or “laboratory grown.” They referenced a 2018 ruling by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which stated that “a diamond is a diamond” irrespective of its origin, clarifying that the term “diamond” solely denotes the object and does not specify its source.
However, ASA determined that Skydiamond’s marketing was misleading as it either omitted or obscured crucial information. Furthermore, a survey conducted among over 2,100 UK adults revealed that 25% were unaware of the existence of man-made diamonds.
The ASA ruling underscored that consumers might interpret the term “diamond” as naturally occurring crystallized carbon, and while some individuals might be aware of synthetic diamonds, many would not. The distinction between natural and synthetic gemstones was deemed essential information for consumers.
Consequently, ASA directed Skydiamond to refrain from using terms such as “diamonds,” “diamonds made entirely from the sky,” and “skydiamond” without clear qualifiers like “synthetic,” “laboratory-grown,” or “laboratory-created.” Furthermore, the claim of “real diamonds” for synthetic diamonds was deemed inappropriate.
Alan Cohen, co-president of the London Diamond Bourse (LDB), commended the ruling for protecting British consumers from deceptive marketing of synthetic diamonds. He expressed optimism that such practices would cease and advocated for increased scrutiny of eco-friendliness claims in the future.
