De Beers to counter `The Blood Diamond`

The De Beers Group, the Johannesburg-based diamond mining and trading company, has announced plans to spend $15 million dollars to counter any potential bad press from the release of 'The Blood Diamond,' the Mining Journal reports.

Slated for a January 2007 release, the Warner Brothers film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a man involved in a diamond smuggling ring. According to reports, the film depicts the exploitation of diamond miners in Sierra Leone and the plot implies that "conflict diamonds," or diamonds used to fund the ongoing civil wars in Africa, are still prevalent. This contradicts the stance in the Diamond Industry that the problem has been eliminated. However, with the promotion of the film beginning during the holiday season, the $15 million will go towards an education campaign touting "conflict free diamonds" in TV, print and online channels in an attempt to counter a public backlash.

[link]