Down with Valentine’s Day!

Madhuri Dixit as Pooja in the 1997 movie Dil Toh Pagal Hai lavishes Valentine’s Day gifts on herself and celebrates herself — an act that is both defiant and illustrates self-love. 

Most of us have forgotten that 74-second scene because it was overshadowed by all the grand gestures of love the leading actors endorsed. Time passed and V-Day consolidated its place in our minds as a cloying one-dimensional celebration of romantic relationships. Nothing else. 

True to its modern day roots, V-Day stands for obligatory consumerism and drives billions of dollars of business every year. According to a survey by the National Retail Federation, consumers in the US plan to spend a whopping $25.8 billion on Valentine’s Day this year — an average of $185.81 per person. 

Brand managers must mark February 14 with a red heart on their calendars and grudgingly plan for yet another discount sale or campaign to nudge consumers into the obligation of gifting a partner something invaluable. 

These forced campaigns result in a deluge of mush and absurdity. Among the most absurd of such offers this year is the discount from co-working space WeWork: Enjoy flat 15% on day passes this Valentine's Day, reads the emailer. 

Why, WeWork? Why?

Not all is lost, though.

Several brands like AJIO, Zomato, Blinkit, and Cadbury 5 Star, however, have come to the rescue of singles and everyone else who has had enough of Valentine’s Day this year. 

5 Star will make the day disappear for you — time travel, baby! International Date Line travel, to be specific. Blinkit will let singles avoid all the red hearts and teddy bears with its Single Mode, today. Instead, Singles can choose to buy themselves vibrators and single bedsheets among other single-friendly products.   

Inclusion all the way

The singles and single-and-proud TG has emerged as a broad cohort that marketers can include on a day that is historically exclusionary in nature. Call it counter-culture or by any other name, but the idea is simple: why not include those who have always been left out?

“Occasions like Diwali, Christmas, New Year are for everyone. But Valentine’s Day is not. Further, V-Day comes with the pressure of spending it with someone or doing something special while other festivals are inclusive in the joy they spread,” says Anchit Chauhan, VP Strategy, VML India (erstwhile Wunderman Thompson).  

Brands that have enabled the expression of love can also become allies of those who would rather not see a hint of red on February 14. “Brands search for occasions to address a community of consumers. V-Day is that occasion for people who date or are in a romantic relationship. But every such opportunity also excludes a bunch of people,” observes Nisha Sampath, managing partner, Bright Angles Consulting – a consumer insight led consultancy.

The reality of V-Day is that many may have no one to spend it with, by design or not. “Why should a brand exclude an opportunity to make everyone happy,” Sampath asks.     

Anti-love for all?

The idea behind the counter-culture movement around V-Day is prompted by factors like people getting married late and choosing to prioritise personal and career growth before they “settle down”.

“As a result, the active relationship conversation that could begin in the early twenties is happening a little later. Therefore, brands are realising that they cannot make people spend money only on the pink/red mush,” points out Naresh Gupta, chief strategy officer and managing partner, Bang In The Middle. 

Consumerism has not done Valentine’s Day any good either. “The excessive commercialisation is something that young consumers see through. The lack of a strong cultural association is another factor that contributes towards the counter-culture trend,” says Chauhan. 

Is this realisation apparent enough to all brands and their managers? The answer lies in the number of counter-culture ads we are seeing in 2024 in comparison to the traditional mushy ads. A slow but steady shift has begun.

Vishnu Srivatsav, creative head, 22feet Tribal Worldwide, sees culture and counter-culture as two sides of the same coin. “Where there is popular culture pushing a certain mushy narrative, we have always had cool takes on Valentine's Day. Ryan Reynolds' Match being a great example. There are certain brands whose tonality always lets them take a slightly different take from the running narrative. Within Cadbury, you see Silk take one tone and a 5 Star take another.”

Saurabh Parmar, a fractional CMO, who has been trying to convince brands to embrace counter-culture and move beyond the traditional definitions of V-Day says, “Going anti-love needs brave brand managers. Self-love, the other approach this year, has gained wider acceptance and is being used as a narrative device more frequently now.”

He recalls a fundraiser by the San Antonio Zoo in Texas from last year. For $10 the zoo let people symbolically name cockroaches that would be fed to the zoo’s animal residents after their exes. To Parmar, taking the counter-culture approach could work for a variety of brands, but if done before others catch on to the trend.  

“Can your brand justify the approach” is the question Chauhan says brand managers will need to ask themselves. “The brand has to be consistent in its messaging and countering the norm should come naturally to it,” he says. 

One thing is for sure, this might just be the beginning of the anti-love campaigns for V-Day. 

“Typically, most brands are behind on shaping culture because they are risk averse. But now that they have seen brands take this route, you will see more brands joining the bandwagon next year,” Gupta predicts.

Until then, Say No to Mush, folks!