People will wear diamonds for all sorts of reasons, but the popularity in engagement diamonds only really took off after an effective marketing campaign in the 40's

The first diamond engagement ring can be traced back to 1477 when Archduke Maximillian of Austria proposed to Mary Burgundy. This exchange began a tradition that caught on in elite societies. However, engagement rings didn’t become popular among the masses until the mid-1900s.

In 1947, British-owned diamond company, De Beers, premiered a new advertising campaign. This campaign featured the slogan, “A diamond is forever,” and helped diamond engagement rings to soar in popularity. Within three years of the launch of this campaign, diamond engagement ring sales increased by 50 percent and the numbers continued to skyrocket. In fact, in 1939, only about 10 percent of engagement rings included diamonds. Today, that number is closer to 90 percent.