The Real Valentine's Day

Gone are the days when Valentine's Day commemorated pure and unadulterated love for ones partner. In recent years, February 14th has become less about a day of love and more about an advertisers Christmas. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans are estimated to have spent over $14.7 billion dollars last year on Valentine's Day purchases. As absurdly high of a number that is, it is in fact a 13.5 percent decrease from the $17 billion spent in 2008.
According to "Will You Be My Frugal Valentine?" an article in the New York Times written by journalist Stuart Elliott, Americans are supposedly "cutting back" on Valentine's Day purchases due to the economical recession. The article describes how corporations like: Walgreens, Target, White Castle, and even the notorious Martha Stewart, are offering discounts to help consumers save a penny on their Valentine's sweethearts. In addition, Google's search engine registered 653,000 search's for "Valentine's Day deals," 13,000 for "Valentine's Day discounts" and 3,140 for "Valentine's Day bargains." People around the Country are apparently cutting back on their holiday spending.
But is this enough? Have we lost sight of what Valentine's Day is really supposed to be about? Have advertisers convinced us that Valentine's Day is more about spending money then anything else? According to media scholars, David Croteau and William Hoynes, "media are ideological, selling certain messages and worldviews. Furthermore, "Media sell both mass media products and ideas, both personalities and worldviews." So that leads me to ask, has the media sold us on the ideas that Valentine's Day goes hand in hand with commercialism and materialism? Have we as Americans been "normalized," to think that to be a good Valentine, we must buy flowers, cards, chocolates, and necklaces?
You may say," of course a good Valentine should buy flowers and chocolates and take their dates out to fancy restaurants." I too have been guilty of thinking this very thing. But where exactly did these traditions come from? I contend that the advertisement companies have ingrained these traditions into our head to the point where they have become natural. As stated above, "the media has sold us on products and ideas, personalities and worldviews." So I challenge you this Valentine's Day, to look past these media ploys. To pay less attention to Valentines deals and more to your Valentine. You can't put a price on love so my advice is: DON"T TRY TO! I'm all for cutting back and being frugal, but what if Americans took it one step further? Instead of buying a card, write a poem. Instead of make reservations at a nice restaurant, cook your Valentine a dinner. Show your sweetheart that Valentine's Day can go beyond flowers and chocolates.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/business/media/28adco.html?ref=media