• New York Post , Tuesday, December 16, 2008 11 AM

It must be days since we observed the impact of The New Frugality on the buying public. Thankfully, the Post's Holly M. Sanders is taking a good look at a new DeBeers campaign out of J. Walter Thompson this morning. "Here's to Less," screams the headline on an ad that pitches quality over quantity, she reports.

And Tiffany has a similar message with "For less than you imagine, the best there is."

There may be more at play here than empty pockets, however. "There are growing indications that the desire to spend has been supplanted by the search for things that matter -- or at least something that will last more than two washes," Sanders reports.

The graphic accompanying the story is reminiscent of one of those circulars that come in the Friday mail where the color is not quite right, and you catch glimpses of Barcaloungers and shiny new gutters as you transport it to the recycling bin. There's a "Then" picture of a necklace that overrunneth with diamonds and a "Now" inset on a finger bearing an engagement ring with a diamond that you need a Niton XRF Analyzer from Thermo Fisher Scientific to locate.

Read the whole story at New York Post »