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Valentine's Day: Commercial hype or romantic opportunity?
Results so far:
| Commercial | 66% | 586 votes | Total: 887 votes | |
| Romantic | 34% | 301 votes |
Commercial
by James Henry
Created on: February 21, 2009 Last Updated: February 23, 2009
There was a time when I thought I was an eternal hopeless romantic, and never would have considered clicking on an icon declaring that Valentine's Day is commercialized.
Seven years of marriage with a wife who could really care less about what day it is, Valentine's Day, our anniversary, either of our birthdays, I'm just not getting all wrapped up in the whole romance angle of this holiday. On the other hand, I have seen ample examples of ways that this holiday, like most of them, has become commercialized.
The Valentine's Day displays go up about 2 minutes after the stores open the day after Christmas. They want to milk this for everything it's worth, and as long as there's going to be a lot of people in the stores returning unwanted Christmas gifts, why not give them a not so subtle reminder of the next time you'll be expected to bring home chocolate, flowers, and anything that is stuffed in the shape of a heart.
I was particularly affected by the commercialized side of Valentine's Day this year, because I learned last fall that I have Type II Diabetes. So if I were going to buy chocolates for my wife, I knew she would be eating them all (and truth be told, she usually has such a stash of chocolate hidden from our children in our bedroom that I doubt any chocolate I bought on February 14 would have much chance of being consumed before Halloween.
Still, the romantic in me was whispering in my ear, saying, "You know you HAVE to do something for her." And I had to acknowledge that advice was sound. So then the question became, would I succumb to the commercial pressures and buy her a heart-shaped box of chocolates, or would I turn on the creative juices?
I chose the latter.
I recently picked up a printer/scanner from a guy on free-cycle (an organization dedicated to keeping as much stuff out of landfills as possible). My daughter, coincidentally, unearthed our album of wedding pictures, and placed it right between our computer and the scanner/printer.
BINGO!
I was delighted to see how well this scanner worked, as you can never be sure what you're getting when you take anything off free-cycle. This printer was out of ink, but that mattered little, because I still had this nifty little program called Power Point, which I have learned to use in recent months.
And so I stayed up late on the night of February 13, scanning picture after picture, as my wife snored away in our bed. By 1:30 a.m., I had scanned every single wedding picture, and imported them into a PowerPoint presentation that I was sure would knock her socks off. I even left the laptop monitor open, so as soon as she sat down at the computer on Valentine's Day, she would be greeted by the fruits of my labor.
And so i waited. And waited. And even asked her if she planned to check her email. When the answer was no, I was lost. Finally, with my eyes bulging out of their sockets like an overly excited pug, I said, "My dear, would you please go to your laptop?"
She obliged, wondering what I had up my sleeve. She sat down and saw the slide show, and watched with the slightest of smiles on her face. When it was all done, do you know what she said?
"Did you get me any chocolate?"
Valentine's Day....Bah, Humbug!
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Romantic
by Elle D
Created on: February 14, 2008 Last Updated: February 20, 2008
It's February and everywhere you go you are being bombarded with red hearts, pink teddy bears and paper cupids shooting arrows. They have become the symbols to remind us, just in case it slipped our minds, Valentine's Day is coming. No chance of that ever happening, right? Grocery stores, gas stations, drug stores, and even my neighborhood cleaners are now in on it.
I doubt if anyone still even remembers that this all started in Rome as a result of a clergyman named Valentine who was executed for secretly marrying military personnel against the Emperor's orders. The Emperor believed that marriage made the soldiers weak in battle (much like the NFL or NBA feel about a player consummating with their wives or girlfriends before a big game-talk about an archaic rule). Later, in A.D. 496, Pope Gelasius set aside February 14th as the Christian holiday to honor this man of the cloth for his bravery, and he became the patron saint for lovers. Now centuries later it has become known as the day to express and exchange love messages. Creating and marketing the first valentine card was first credited to Esther Howland, of Massachusetts, back in the 1840's, which she turned into a lucrative home-based business, (grossing a whopping $100k annually), and then sold to George C. Whitney, who later was responsible for adding the verse to the cards.
Today the American Greetings Corporation, the largest manufacturer of greeting cards, boast $1.8billion in annual sales of which 25% or, approximately 190 million of those are for Valentine's Day.-not including the million or so exchanged among children at school. And women may be the biggest purchasers of Valentine's cards, but men account for 15% of those sales, and word is out, that number is rising. According to the Greeting Card Association, 9 out of 10 people look forward to getting a valentine's card, so men may not be buying them but they sure are expecting to receive one. That makes Valentine's Day the most popular day for sending and receiving cards, second to Christmas. And it's celebrated by just as many people and businesses.
Yes, Millions of dollars are being made and exchanged in the name of love on this day. According to the Diamond Information Center, 2.3 million couples get engaged annually and 10% of those happen on valentine's day. In diamond dollars that's 230 thousand times two people, celebrating Valentine's Day (Bling! Bling!). More flowers, (roses of course) and $14.9 billion worth of chocolate (36 million in heart-shaped boxes) are sold and sent on that day as well. That's a chocolate lover or confectioner's dream day. Commercialism? Hype? Who cares! If you are a smart business owner you can't help but get romantic about making that kind of money, right?
But the real question is, is it more commercial hype than romantic opportunity these days? Hands down it is NOT! It is definitely more romantic opportunity. What other holiday is there that help you exhibit your sincere love to your mate than this one? And on what holiday is romance the only reason for the season? What if it wasn't hyped up? Do you really think that most men (and some women) would even remember to send a sentiment or express a heartfelt emotion to you? Let alone purposely prepare something special for the occasion? Probably not.
How readily available do you think a dozen of roses, a heart-shaped box of chocolates, or that perfectly heart shaped diamond necklace would be on such short notice if companies hadn't got in on the hype? Certainly couldn't stop at the local PDQ and find any there. Nor would there be just the right bouquet with a miniature heart shaped balloon already attached at your local grocer. How bout stopping at the local DQ last minute and finding just the right dessert to end that special dinner you didn't have time to cook especially for the occasion? Well, I say we ought to be grateful for the hype and embrace the romantic opportunity of the day. No time like the present will there be a better one. No other holiday is rallying around the roses. And believe me, women like to get roses and if it wasn't for this day some would never.
It is a without a doubt a very lucrative day for some, and certainly it is hyped to the max by others, but you can't deny the fact that no better opportunity presents itself quite like Valentine's Day for love and romance. Yeah, you can take your girl up in an air balloon on any day and it's considered romantic, but if you took her up on Valentine's Day it would be romantic to the Nth power. She and her envying girlfriends will be talking about it for days all year. Now how many Christmas presents have that kind of staying power? How bout a candlelight dinner? Say, you cook your girl one of those messes of a meal you call special just because you cooked it. On any day other than Valentine's Day, it just wouldn't have the same affect. (it may have quite the opposite-it could remind her how wonderful it would be to have a man that cooks-and that really is an asset to today's working women, you know) But on this day she would just smile and think you were the best; you and your mess. She would grin and bear just about anything on this day in the name of love. She dare not hurt your feelings by saying something negative about whatever you decide to do for her out of love on this day. In fact, you could take this romantic opportunity to a whole nother level. Let's say you've been a jerk all year, just hold out till Valentine's Day and do something for her in the name of the day, (it has to be kind of spectacular -depending on how big a jerk you were) and you're off the hook (so try not to mess it up again-Valentine's Day comes only once a year-the rest of the year the hype wont be there to help). And even if you are not a jerk, and really are the romantic type, the hype of this day gives you one more day (and another reason) for all that affection and mush you dish out all year on your loved ones.
The way I see it, we should all get in on the hype because it all works out to our advantage anyway. That is, anything for love.
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