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#LoveWins: Independent Jewelers React To Same-Sex Marriage Ruling | July 01, 2015 (0 comments)
Merrick, NY—Prestige jewelers around the country took to social media in support of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Friday, guaranteeing same-sex couples the right to marry nationwide. While the decision will likely spur business for the jewelry industry, the ruling left Boston-based Long’s Jewelers in a bit of a quandary—but one any jeweler would want to have.
As a longtime supporter of the LBGT community, Long’s posted a picture of a white metal, rainbow bezel watch on its Facebook page, saying, “It’s about time! June 26, 2015. #LoveWins. The rainbow, of course, has been the symbol of the LGBT community.
With the deadline for advertising in last Sunday’s Boston Globe just hours away, the jeweler quickly scrambled to create an ad (above left) featuring the watch. Customers loved the watch and have been calling the store looking to buy one, but there’s one little hitch: the image was created in Photoshop and the watch doesn’t really exist. As a result, Long’s has mounted a rather frantic search to find a way to fulfill the requests.
“We didn’t have any commercial intent when we made the ad, just ‘It’s about time’ and the date,” said Craig Rotenberg, president of Long’s. “Now we’re scrambling to find a watch manufacturer who can make us the watch!” He’s looking for a high-end model using rainbow sapphires, and says the store has inquiries out to a few watch companies already.
The watch in the ad was inspired by a Rolex, no longer in production, that also had a rainbow sapphire bezel, Rotenberg told The Centurion.
Women's gold Rolex President watch with rainbow sapphire bezel.
Separately, Matthew Perosi, founder and president of Jewelers’ Website Advisory Group (jWAG), penned this blog discussing how jewelers can embrace equality, while here is a review of what your prestige jeweler peers around the nation had to say about the Supreme Court ruling:
Wick & Greene of Asheville, NC, changed both its Facebook cover image and added the popular rainbow filter to its profile image:
Cornell's Jewelers in Rochester, NY, quoted the exact wording of the ruling:
The 50 states, a video, a pair of hands and, of course, rings were used to reflect jewelers' support:
