Valentine's Day - A Humbug Approach

It's that time of year, and the marketing folk are back with lame Valentine's promotions.

My first is from Audible.com, where I must have registered at some point, because I got an email with the subject field 'Someone has sent you a Valentine!' along with the following message: 'Get a special Valentine's day wish (and a little gift) from Audible.'

The link turns out to be a pretty dull flash presentation, some annoying music that doesn't stop when the flash animation does, and the 'gift' turns out to be a 20% discount at audible.com. Thanks, guys. No, really.

What is perhaps reassuring is a survey from Avantgo, which reports that the majority of folk prefer social introductions to finding true love. Actually I think they're missed the point; although the survey focuses on preference for traditional dating methods --  only 4% ranked online dating as the best way to meet their Valentine -- the fact that 14% of correspondents 'claimed to be dating, married or engaged to someone they met through an online dating service or social networking site' is an extraordinary statistic.

Think about it. Most folk don't like to admit they use dating services, let alone online ones. So the fact that so many people have 'fessed up is a surprising shift in attitudes. Second, assume the figure is much higher, because of the lingering stigma attached. So it could be as high as 20%. Now, of course, these surveys tend to revolve around early adopters (it was a PDA-based survey, whatever that is) so it's skewed, but it's still a significant proportion. The survey tells us that online dating has become normal.

It also, sadly, tells us that folk are using Valentine's Day as an excuse to exchange presents:  'While men plan to give their loved ones traditional gifts such as flowers, dinner out and chocolates, they are secretly hoping to receive an electronic gadget or CD/DVD. A third of respondents plan to spend more than $100 on their Valentine this year.' Jeez! Do we really need another commercially exploited occasion to prod us guiltily into buying presents? Heaven help us all.

If you do insist on buying stuff, here are some Valentine Panties with built in Internet error codes: "Our HTTPanties Valentine's Gift Box comes with one pair of white "403 Forbidden" panties and one pair of black "200 OK" panties, packaged in our lovely "Hearts and Stars" heart shaped box. Makes a great gift!" OhmyGod.

I am beginning to see what folk like Joi Ito are talking about when they talk about corrupting holidays. Talking of Japan, the whole Valentine's thing has gotten way out of hand, primarily because of the confectionary industry. Joi wrote a few weeks back: 'in Japan only men receive chocolates on Valentine's Day and that women receive their chocolates on "White Day" one month later. (This notion was introduced by the confectionary industry in Japan.) People are encouraged to give chocolates widely and these chocolates are called giri choko (obligatory indebtedness chocolates) in Japanese.' Now it's the handphone industry getting in on the act: Nokia are promoting their handphones in Japan by selling them in a Valentine's box, along with some chocolates (Thanks Gizmodo and Boing Boing):

I'm never going to celebrate Valentine's Day again. Ever. After I've bought the panties and phone chocs.