Thanks to the movie Blood Diamond, the conflict diamond issue received more publicitythis past December than it has in years. But did the movie andthe media hype surrounding it make an impact on sales of diamond jewelry? And did the diamond and jewelry trade respond effectively to the movie and its publicity machine? Senior editor Rob Bates asked the JCK retail panel for their views and also spoke with some of the major combatants in the PR battle. In the following two stories, he explores the strategies devised to deal with the movie and reveals what happened at the sales counter.