Mary Frances Gerety (1916-1999) was the

copywriter Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. Copywriting is aimed at selling products or services. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to incre ...

responsible for the "A Diamond is Forever" slogan created for De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd. This famous

slogan A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan or a political, commercial, religious, or other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the public or a more defined target group ...

is still used today in advertising pertaining to

diamonds Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and insol ...

Personal life

Mary Frances Gerety, who primarily went by "Frances," was born in 1916 in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. She graduated from Charles Morris Price School of Advertising and Journalism and was later a student at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. Gerety lived alone in

Wayne, Pennsylvania Wayne is an unincorporated community centered in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, on the Main Line, a series of highly affluent Philadelphia suburbs located along the railroad tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad and one of the ...

for most of her life and died in Derby, Pennsylvania at the age of 83 on April 11, 1999 .

N. W. Ayers

Frances Gerety began working at the N. W. Ayer & Son advertising agency as a copywriter in 1943 and continued until 1970. Gerety helped to create advertisements that were published in

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

Collier's } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

, Look, and

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

"A Diamond is Forever"

Due to the decline of diamond sales after the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, the diamond company

De Beers The De Beers Group is a South African–British corporation that specializes in the diamond industry, including mining, exploitation, retail, inscription, grading, trading and industrial diamond manufacturing. The company is active in open-pi ...

was desperate to increase marketing strategies. De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd. hired N.W. Ayers & Son to advertise their diamonds in 1938. Since women in advertising were generally assigned to cases that only pertained to women, Gerety was the prime copywriter for the job. In 1948, Gerety was assigned to create a slogan that encapsulates the security and eternal romance that comes with owning a diamond. Gerety scribbled the slogan “A Diamond is Forever” on a piece of paper late one night. The next morning, she presented the slogan to her associates at N. W. Ayers. Her associates were initially hesitant to use the slogan due to its strange grammar, but it eventually became one of the most recognized advertising slogans of its time. The slogan has been used in every De Beers ad since 1948 and continues to be used today. In 1989, Gerety was honored at the 50th Anniversary for N.W. Ayers and De Beer’s anniversary in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

for her work with De Beers.

Advertising Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in ...

named “A Diamond is Forever” the slogan of the 20th century in 1999.

Fiction

Gerety was portrayed in a fictional novel ''The Engagements'' by J. Courtney Sullivan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerety, Mary American copywriters American women copywriters 1916 births 1999 deaths Women in advertising