The Repositioning of Valentine’s Day

Historically, Valentine’s Day marketing campaigns have felt pretty exclusionary. Most messaging about the holiday tells us that we should aspire to be in a thriving heterosexual relationship when February 14th comes around and if there are no boxes of chocolate or bouquets of roses in the picture, we must not really be in love. If you are not in a relationship, you might feel the sudden urge to text your ex or hop on a dating app just so that you won’t have to face the allegedly doomed state of being alone on Valentine’s Day. In spite of all of the stress that this holiday can inspire, 52 percent of American adults still reported that they would celebrate last year. 

While it is true that over half of the population celebrates the holiday, it is also worthwhile to look at the 48 percent of adults who are not drawn to the festivities. Since Valentine’s Day has become what many of us refer to as a “Hallmark holiday,” meaning that it is associated with companies like Hallmark and their efforts to sell more greeting cards, shouldn’t marketers be looking for ways to convince more of the adult population to get on board with the holiday? 

Galentine’s Day 

The most valiant effort to broaden the scope of the Valentine’s Day market came from the inventor of Galentine’s Day, Leslie Knope (so, really some clever writers for the popular sitcom “Parks and Recreation”). While this holiday dedicated to the celebration of female friendship and showing appreciation for our besties does fall one day before Valentine’s Day, on February 13th, many retailers have latched onto its message to reach more customers. Most importantly, it has tapped into a Valentine’s Day consumer demographic that might otherwise be against the holiday: the single girl. 

The creation of Galentine’s Day in 2010 marked a pivotal moment in the marketing of love. Not only did it provoke retailers to bring an entirely new category of products to the market, but it also taught us that consumers will buy into a version of Valentine’s Day that is not exclusively for romantic love. Twelve years later, it’s time to broaden the scope of marketing love even more.  

Where’s the celebration of friendship for the other genders? 

Amidst a sea of flowers, pink, hearts, and other things that are typically coded as “girly,” there seem to be no efforts toward building a celebration for friendship among other gender groups. Sure, “Galentine’s Day” is a catchy title, but it is not one that elicits a notion of inclusivity when it comes to who can participate. Perhaps marketers should be pushing for a holiday that celebrates love among friends of any gender, or repositioning Valentine’s Day as a time to celebrate this kind of love as well. As our culture itself shifts to encompass a more progressive view of love, it is crucial for the marketing of it to keep up with consumers’ attitudes. 

Marketing a holiday for all kinds of love

As much as we may not want to admit it, maybe some of the attraction to Valentine’s Day comes from how exclusive it is — maybe it makes us feel better about ourselves if we can say we have a date on Valentine’s Day. But it seems that it would be healthier, and even more profitable in marketing, if we were to reposition Valentine’s Day for all American consumers. As younger generations become increasingly less likely to be in relationships that conform to the traditional male/female heterosexual relationship, there ought to be a push to celebrate all the kinds of loving relationships that we have come the 14th of February. 

Repositioning the holiday to be more inclusive opens the doors to invite more potential consumers who were previously excluded altogether. Marketers should always be looking for ways to generate new target audiences wherever possible and keeping a close eye on how consumers’ opinions are changing over time. And in regard to Valentine’s Day, marketers across the U.S. have been letting opportunities for growth and positive change slip through their fingertips. 

As Galentine’s Day has proven, consumers want a more humorous side of Valentine’s Day that doesn’t pertain only to romantic relationships. Moving forward, maybe marketers ought to follow Leslie Knope’s lead and create a new holiday to celebrate love that everyone can participate in. Not only would this foster more inclusive attitudes surrounding love, but it would generate more revenue for companies selling products related to the holiday.