Do not commercialize Valentine’s Day
As Valentine’s Day approaches, many people are faced with immense pressure to organize a large celebration that meets societal standards of a Valentine’s Day date. The commercialization of Valentine’s Day stems from two factors: greed and the misunderstanding of the holiday by those involved, from the advertisers to the consumers. Advertisers, driven by the sole intent of profiting, want people to spend an excess of money on the same products every year, like chocolates, cards, jewelry and flowers, and they have more than succeeded.
These items have now become the essential Valentine’s Day products. Couples believe that those products are staples for the holiday and flock to the stores to stock up for their partners. However, the point of a holiday about love should not be centered around money. Buying things because you are with someone or not should not be as important as simply loving another person, regardless of who purchased what. Until more people realize this, this standard will remain and advertisers will keep drilling it into the norm until it becomes an expectation so deeply rooted that the holiday is barely about love anymore. Rather, it’s focused more on grand gestures and societal norms that have equated love and money.
If you are intent on spending money, why waste your money on items with artificially inflated prices when you could acquire something much more meaningful instead? The point of holidays are to have fun and to celebrate with those around you. Faux love and gestures that are made merely because you feel you are expected to are missing the point of the holiday and not a true celebration of love. Do not take this as saying that all people who celebrate Valentine’s Day with conventional gifts are subscribing to a herd mentality. Some people are doing all of these things because they sincerely want to. However, all of those who do not feel this way should have the option to choose how they would like to spend their Valentine’s Day.
