Close Scheinbaum, Angeline & Zinkhan, George. (2012).

A Holiday Loved and Loathed:

A Consumer Perspective of Valentine’s Day. Advances in Consumer Research. 33.
Valentine’s Day is a day associated with lavish consumption, rituals, expectations,
and commercialism. Much of the romance is displayed with store-bought and
marketing-driven exchanges, contrary to the unique personalized and intimate nature
sometimes associated with Valentine’s Day. The objective of our multi-method study
is to provide insight into Valentine’s rituals, themes, and meanings (as expressed
in the U.S.) as a basis for understanding consumer behavior for this holiday. Our
three research questions focus on: consumer behaviors and rituals (both in-store
and in the private spheres), key consumer meanings and emergent themes, and roles
of marketing communications during this holiday.We identify many consumer behaviors
associated with Valentine’s Day (Table 2). In turn, we categorize these behaviors
(also illustrated in Table 2) into the areas of: gift exchange, Valentine (card)
exchange, affection, food and drink preparation and consumption, and
grooming/clothing. Many of these behaviors revolve around intimacy and sexuality.
Some key meanings associated with these behaviors include: 'belongingness',
'altruism', 'affection and intimacy', 'mutual expectations', 'self-gifts', and
'negative feelings'.Specific gender patterns emerge in our findings. For some
examples, we find that males are inclined to use gifts as a form of nonverbal
communication. Females engage in self-gift behaviors, especially in relation to
grooming rituals. Members of both sexes do discuss themes of belongingness and
romance in a non-materialistic manner; however, such themes are not devoid of
marketed products and services.We find that this holiday is associated with
extremes (e.g., consumers either love it or hate it). Furthermore, we find that
commercialism and marketing communications contribute to consumer’s feelings and
experiences concerning their love or hate for this day. For example, many ads
depicting couples and affection flood the market as much as a month before February
14th – triggering feelings of warmth or disgust. While some welcome this holiday,
there is a strain of anti-consumerism or anti-commercialism associated with the
holiday 'for love'.