The Acculturation Process of New Products through Known Products. Interpreting Ethical Certification of Diamonds through the Lens of Organic Food Produced in Italy

Abstract

This study aims to highlight the use of the peculiar interconnection between two different production sectors, specifically the diamond and the food sectors, in order to show the cultural interpretations given to the certification of diamonds presented by consumers. These latter, while buying Canadian diamonds, have little knowledge of the real working conditions of miners in mines in Canada. Thus, they passively accept as truthful the jewellers’ claims in presenting ethical diamonds on which they base the moral purchasing decisions that also enable them to distinguish ethical diamonds from other non-certified diamonds. Drawing inspiration from studies on framing related to the analysis of language, the study shows how “frames of familiarity” linked to cultural ideas of food production sectors managed to incorporate “frames of novelty” in relation to Canadian diamonds, which are still niche products in Italy, on the part of a socio-cultural community of consumers who were thus able to increase the perception of trustworthiness with regard to these products. Thus, this research demonstrates that interpreting the certification of Canadian ethical diamonds through the lens of organic food produced in Italy, which is a label that generally refers to meanings of careful, respectful, and high-quality processing, allowed the Italian consumers interviewed to perform an act of acculturation of diamonds mined in Canada.