Well, that's pretty much what's happening to the moguls over at De Beers, the legendary diamond company that used clever propaganda that convinced generations of Americans that true love should come with a gigantic price tag.

And boy, is this company having a rough time right now.

For generations, De Beers has dominated the diamond business, controlling enormous amounts of the world's supply and marketing this idea that an expensive diamond engagement ring was a requirement for getting married.

Remember that old rule about spending two months' salary on an engagement ring?

That idea came straight from De Beers' advertising campaigns. And it works like a diamond-studded charm.

Millions of people bought into this goofy idea that the bigger and more expensive the diamond, the more love and commitment it represented.

But now Chinese manufacturers are pumping out genuine factory-made diamonds that look identical to the ones being dug out of the ground, and they're selling them for insanely cheaper prices.

All of a sudden, that $5,000 De Beers diamond starts looking a little over-the-top when you can buy the same basic thing for $1,000 bucks or less. And according to a fascinating new video examining what's happening to the diamond industry, De Beers is getting absolutely hammered.

The company hasn't gone out of business… yet. But its financial troubles have become so serious that its majority owner is trying to sell it.

But to really appreciate the sweet irony of this story, we need to go back to the beginning and understand how De Beers managed to convince the world that diamonds were worth so much money in the first place.

Because there's a really ugly story behind all that sparkle.

HOW DE BEERS CONVINCED THE WORLD THAT DIAMONDS WERE PRICELESS

De Beers goes back to the late 1800s in South Africa, when diamonds were being discovered in massive amounts.

A British businessman named Cecil Rhodes saw this as an opportunity to make a bloody fortune (pun intended), and he helped build what would become one of the most powerful companies in the world.