There was something unusual about the half-time proposal that took place at the Superdome in New Orleans on Nov. 29—it involved a man-made diamond. 

At the intermission of the Southern University game against Grambling State, SU alumnus Calvin Mills Jr. got down on one knee and proposed to girlfriend Brittany Ramsey with a 2.62 ct. pear-shape manufactured by Pure Grown Diamonds. Afterward, the stadium Jumbotron blared: “She said, ‘Yes!’” 

The proposal took place in front of Ramsey’s 12-year-old daughter, 57,000 game attendees, as well as viewers watching the Bayou Classic on NBC. Pure Grown also advertised on five billboards surrounding the stadium.

The company declined to release the ring’s cost, saying it would be “inappropriate” for the occasion. 

In a statement, Mills said he wanted to “make a statement” with his diamond “which had zero impact on the environment and did not contribute to human rights violations and sporadic violence associated with mining in undeveloped countries where diamonds are found—and it cost a lot less.”

Pure Grown Diamonds chief technical officer Devi Shanker Misra said the diamonds “are not synthetic diamonds, not costume jewelry, and not cubic zirconia. These are genuine, sparkling precious stones, which the U.S. Federal Trade Commission recognizes as laboratory-cultivated diamonds.”

Even so, the FTC Guides say that lab-grown diamonds can be described as synthetic, though Pure Grown’s promoter Suraj Mehta has petitioned the agency to change that rule.

Rob Bates

JCK News Director