Students react to the cost of a day devoted to love

Valentine’s Day is supposed to be about the language of love, but retail advertising and marketing associates statistics create a hard, factual view of Feb. 14.

If the 2012 numbers hold true for today, 14 percent  of women send themselves Valentines, 53 percent  of women say they would break up with their spouse if they didn’t get a gift on Valentines Day, and the average consumer spends $116  on Valentines Day.

Senior Kate Harline was shocked that so much money pours into the economy.
“That’s a large average to spend on Valentine’s Day,” Harline said. “Extravagance shouldn’t have to be expensive.”
The heartlessness of women, however, is what struck senior Rachel Volmert, who believes the day should be a chance to show others affection.

“Forty-one percent of women send themselves flowers on Valentines Day?” Volmert said. “No way. I think women shouldn’t send themselves flowers. I think it’s a day you can show everybody you care about, that you do care.”

Likewise, junior Hallie Galvan couldn’t believe how selfish these statistics portray women, and she couldn’t believe the extent to which women would go to avoid humiliation.

“It’s nice to have one day where people are forced to show how much they like you,” she said. “I think that women that dump their spouse for not getting a gift [are] ridiculous.”

Before February arrived, stores were filled with pink and red fluff, glitter and flowers.
Jewelry companies played commercials day after day as they competed with chocolate advertisements for attention, offering “irresistible deals”. The general materialism of the holiday,  rather than the specific statistics, made senior Noor Khreis disgusted.

“These statistics make me realize how materialistic we are,” she said. “It’s kind of shallow, especially when the money could be put to better use.”

Khreis, who believes “material isn’t sincere,” said the holiday is “overrated” and finds it offensive that people don’t show their love for one another every day.

The part of the statistics that most interested Harline was the  “other” portion of the number, the 11 percent. She wonders if these are the people who hand-make their gifts.

“It’s nice when you can see that they have put a lot of thought into the gift they have made,” Harline said. “It would be nice to do something sweet and make the day slightly nicer than other days, but extravagance shouldn’t be so expensive.