That is a worry about Walmart. Low end impression. Not the place to make people aware about M. The place to sell a low end version of something (like D) that is already very well known. But unless the helzberg thing can be played into placements at other large(r) B&M fine jewelry stores, or at least high(er) end department stores with somewhat real fine jewelry counters, (and does C&C have anybody competent to make that happen ?), then I would take a LARGE multi-year ongoing deal with Walmart where Walmart actually BUYS jewels (or jewelry) from C&C.......because this C&C team might not produce anything else. Walmart selling C&CM as a cheapo jewel/jewelry would be counterproductive to proper awareness and sales in fine jewelry venues, but we are at the point where Mgt cannot seem to produce any significant sales, so a big push with large volumes as a cheap Walmart jewel may be something we have to accept as the best this C&C team can do. (Although actually, I doubt they can even do that.) All they seem to do, is get items listed on websites/marketplaces. That is NOT an accomplishment. The marketplaces (like Walmart) have no reason to not list items, since C&C has all the expenses associated with it. If C&C doesn't generate awareness and consumer demand, the listings will just sit unused. If C&C could generate awareness, then we wouldn't need listings all over the place, because interested consumers would go where they could find items. (Although initially they would want to SEE them in B&M locations, until they are comfortable with what M looks like.)
<<<why is lab created M any more ethical than lab created D and CZ?>>>
It is NOT.
A great point to keep bringing up. I think we talked about this some time ago. "Created" is NOT going to get folks to choose M instead of D. They will choose created D. Like you say, the one thing that will get people to choose M instead of D, is the superior JEWEL (optical, durability) properties of C&CM. More BFL+D+W than diamonds. And CZ is NOT in the same league as M and diamonds, including poor durability aspects of CZ.
There is no advantage to using "created" to sell M, there are only disadvantages.
THE BEST FINE JEWEL. Nothing less. Nothing else. Simple message to convey.