Today, the diamond industry has focused on trying to get millennials to buy into their advertising, but unfortunately for them, we aren't buying into it. Millennials, the term usually attached to those born between the 1980s and the early 2000s, are beginning to get married and are the target audience for the diamond industry's ad campaigns. However, there are a few traits about millennials as a whole that makes us a hurdle for them:

1. We are environmentally conscious.

2. We tend to research products before buying them.

3. We aren't getting married as much as the previous generations.

4. We are skeptical about the tradition.

5. We tend to be stingy with our money, so we aren't buying into the expense that diamond rings cost.

Because of these traits, we tend to look into laboratory diamonds or even rings without diamonds, because at least with lab diamonds we know where they're coming from, and since diamonds are actually really common, it actually makes a little more sense to get a ring with a more precious gem.

As a millennial myself, I can understand how they would have a problem selling diamonds to us. I personally think that, since millennials grew up with the consequences of the 2008 recession, we tend to be stingier with their money than the previous generations. We had to grow up penny-pushing, thus the high pricing that the diamonds demand seems ridiculous to those who are used to keeping from spending copious amounts of money. I would consider myself to lean more towards the traditional, but even still I would welcome an engagement ring that had an emerald, sapphire, or ruby instead of a diamond, and I know many others that share my sentiments. I believe, also, that the diamond industry, in general, has lost credibility with the rise of technology, which allows millennials to research the ethics and credibility of whatever it is they are looking into buying.

The diamond industry for several years now has owned-up to price-fixing the diamonds. The only reason diamonds are "rare" is because the diamond businesses only release a certain amount of diamonds a year, so that makes them artificially rare. Back in the day, engagement rings didn't have to have diamonds on them. In fact, many of them didn't, but that all changed with a very clever marketing ploy that forever attached diamonds to ever-lasting love.

All of that information is on the internet, and if millennials are researching products before buying them, it makes sense that we'd be turned off by a diamond engagement ring. It will be interesting to see how the diamond industry tries to market to us as the next few years come and go.