Live insect jewelry

Marketing for the brooch states that during the Mayan period, women from the Yucatán Peninsula wore maqueches pinned to their chests, over their hearts, to attract and sustain loving relationships.

It tells that when a Mayan princess was not permitted to marry a prince from a rival clan whom she loved, she stopped eating and drinking, preferring to die than to live without her lover.

In compassion with her plight, a traditional healer with magical powers transformed her into a maquech so that she could spend the rest of her life living as a beautiful brooch on the chest of her lover close to his heart.

[6] Fashion designer, Jared Gold, popularized the "roach brooch" trend with the inclusion of the giant Madagascar hissing cockroach in his 2006 collection.

[7] A number of animal rights groups have expressed huge concern in over the use of live jewelry, stating that it is exploitative to the creatures as they "have a similar capacity to feel pain as other more mainstream pets".