The Evolution of Valentine’s Day

Oh, Valentine’s Day; a day filled with hearts, chocolates and last-minute gift shopping. Where elementary school kids gather around their desks to see if their crush dropped off a tiny card with a piece of heart-shaped candy attached and their name signed with a heart next to it. Alas, those simple days are long gone, and a 50-cent card won’t cut it anymore, or at least that’s what spending trends are telling us.  

In 2020, the average person spent a record breaking $196.31 on Valentine’s Day gifts, a 21.2% increase from 2019 and an overall increase of 43.74% increase since 2017. However, this total isn’t dedicated solely to a romantic partner, but people also buying gifts for family members, friends and even furry friends. Of those who purchased gifts, 27% of them bought specifically for pets, totaling a whopping $1.7 billion. A small price to pay for unconditional love! 
So, when and how did a day made for love turn so commercialized? We’ve all heard the common exclamation that the whole holiday was made up by the card companies to increase sales, but was it really? We’re going to look back and see if Valentine’s Day was just a marketing strategy after all. 
 

The Origin of Valentine’s Day 

St. Valentine’s Day was created to honor St. Valentine after his execution on February 14, 270 A.D. by Emperor Claudius II of Rome. Claudius banned all marriages and engagements, but Valentine defied this decree and married couples in secret. According to legend, while St. Valentine was in jail awaiting his sentence to be carried out, he wrote to the jailer’s daughter who he had befriended. He signed this note “From Your Valentine.” 

In 496 A.D., February 14 was declared St. Valentine’s Day to celebrate the martyr by exchanging notes with those you love, replacing a pagan festival of love. In the 1700s, people across Europe, particularly in England, participated in this tradition and gifted small presents or notes to represent their love for one another.  
 

America’s First Valentine 

With the Industrial Revolution came the larger manufacturing of what we would now consider a traditional Valentine’s Day card. It started with a young woman, Esther Howland, who in 1847 was sent an English valentine. She absolutely loved it and thought the tradition would become popular in the States. With the help of her father, a stationer, the first American Valentine’s Day cards were born, along with a new industry. 

In 1910, Hallmark was founded but it wasn’t until 1913 when they first produced a Valentine’s Day card.  Today, Americans exchange around 145 million Valentine’s Day cards, not even including the bulk packs that kids hand out at school. This at least proves this isn’t another made-up “Hallmark holiday.”   

Gift Giving Traditions 

For a while, a simple card and some flowers were the typical gift for a loved one on Valentine’s Day, but with the help of a few strategic marketing campaigns, that all began to change. 

You can thank Cadbury for chocolates becoming a staple Valentine’s Day gift, particularly chocolates found in a heart-shaped box. By the 1840s, the holiday of love was already thriving across the English-speaking countries and the famous Richard Cadbury started producing “eating chocolates” with the excess cocoa butter extracted while making drinking chocolate. It wasn’t long before he began packaging the chocolates in a beautifully decorated heart-shaped box. Once the chocolates were gone, the boxes were saved to hold mementos from loved ones, especially love letters and Valentine’s Day cards. 

Up until 1894, chocolate was deemed a “European luxury” item. When the Hershey Chocolate Company was founded that year, accessing this treat became much easier for the American population. With chocolate more affordable than ever, it grew in popularity for gift giving. In 1986, Hershey’s upped their game by coloring the foil wrapping of their iconic “Kiss” pink and red for Valentine’s Day, forever cementing the pair. 
 

Valentine’s Day Today 

By the early 2000s, Valentine’s Day reached its final form as the commercialized holiday it’s known as today. High-budget, quality print and commercial advertisements are being produced everywhere to promote their pink and red themed specials. Billions of dollars are spent on gifts, including $1.8 billion on candy and $5 billion on jewelry every year, in the United States alone.  

So, was Valentine’s Day invented by the marketing industry? Yes and no. Based on legend, it has its roots deep in history from the days of the Romans. Would the holiday be what it is today without the help of an innovative woman like Esther Howland or the heart-themed campaigns? We don’t think so! 

A lot’s changed since Esther Howland first started to mass produce Valentine’s Day cards in the United States. Different variations of the special day have popped up, like Galentine’s Day, a special girls’ night out, Palentine’s Day, an event to spend with all your closest friends, and our personal favorite being Half-Price Chocolate Day (a.k.a. the day after Valentine’s Day). 
Regardless of what you think about the holiday, it’s hard to deny the mark marketing campaigns through the centuries have made on what traditions we follow today.  

Now it's your turn to launch a marketing campaign that will leave its mark on the industry, and we would love to be the ones who help you do it. Contact us today to start building a strategy that will transform your business.