By Kate Halim
In recent times, Valentine’s Day has become a money-making opportunity for business owners both on-site and on social media. Shops and supermarkets stock roses, chocolates, perfumes and other items for people to buy for their partners.
Vendors on social media platforms advertise different packages with different prices so that people can patronise them while celebrating the day of love. Some Nigerians shared their thoughts about this recent trend with Saturday Sun.
Tolulope Harry, a wife and a mother said that it is a good thing for vendors to sell Valentine’s Day packages to lovers who wish to give gifts to their loved ones. She added that doing this provides several options of enjoyment for couples depending on how much their budget is. “It is a win-win for vendors and couples. People don’t have to overthink to get ideas to make the day a memorable one for their partners. This is where these vendors come in. They create ideas that couples can choose from and then market these ideas for a fee.”
Tolulope, however, stated that people don’t have to patronise vendors who sell things at exorbitant prices just to milk couples on Valentine’s Day. According to her, it is not by force to buy from vendors who are out to fleece people of their hard-earned money. She said that this is where prospective customers have to do their due diligence before buying anything from any vendor.
“I didn’t buy anything from any social media vendor to celebrate the day of love because my husband travelled. When he comes back, we will create time to celebrate. And right now, that’s the last thing on my mind. I just cooked jollof rice, fried meat and bought drinks for my daughters and me”, she added.
Vivian Otika firmly agrees that Valentine’s Day has been commercialised and she said this defeats the purpose for which the day was set aside for people to celebrate love. She stated that everyone with a partner is expected to gift their partner something special for the day or take them to a special place.
Otika said: “Businesses know this and any businesses-minded person knows it is an avenue to generate more cash. And they give it their best shot by creating valentine packages, advertising them over the media from the beginning of the month so that people will plan towards it and patronise them.”
She noted that the most interesting bit about this is the way both parties perceive this. She said whilst businesses see this as an avenue to cash out, lovers look at the emotional aspect of it which is a special day to bond, make memories and build more connection between themselves and also not bothered so much at the costs of these packages.
“Even though the money-making aspect seems to have overshadowed the true reason for the day, I think it is a win-win for the parties involved. At the end of the day, there is something for everyone. Businesses make more money, and lovers enjoy a memorable day”, she said.
Mr Gbenga Oyinlola said that anybody complaining about businessmen and women making money from Valentine’s Day is poor. He stated that this happens all over the world and not only in Nigeria. “The reason why people set up businesses is to make money and if these businesses take advantage of Valentine’s Day to make more sales then, that’s good because everyone benefits from the commercial purposes of the day,” he said.
Oyinlola, who ordered a food platter for his wife as well as a bottle of her favourite perfume from an online vendor, stated that the joy on her face when she got the items made his day. Even though he was at work when the items were delivered to his wife, he added that he told the vendor to make sure she captures the moment when the items were delivered to her.
The father of three said: “I told the vendor to record the moment my wife received her Valentine’s Day gifts from me. I am glad I did that because the look on her face was priceless. She screamed in excitement and was so happy. I have never done this for my wife before but I needed to do something for her because we went through some challenges last year and she stuck by me without complaining. After 12 years of marriage, I am glad I made her blush. I earned some good points and I know she will reciprocate through other means.”
Sylvia Onyinye said she doesn’t see anything wrong with people making quick money from selling goods and rendering services hinged on the celebration of St Valentine’s Day. She said that even though she didn’t patronise any vendor to celebrate the day, she took her kids out and they did something different.
Onyinye added that “for various reasons, people want to make that day remarkable and memorable for them and their partners and it is on account of this that the commercialisation happens, but it’s okay as it helps the economy to grow.”
An apprentice, Daniel Ojo, said that the love of money will continue to rule people and destroy relationships because women no longer care about true love but about how much money they can get from their partners.
Ojo stated that commercialising the celebration of Valentine’s Day is doing more harm than good to modern relationships. According to him, when women meet guys who are still struggling to find their feet financially, they reject them because these guys can’t buy Valentine’s Day gifts for them or take them on trips to choice destinations.
“If you log onto Instagram and Facebook on Valentine’s Day, you will see different women posting gifts that their partners bought them. Some of these women also post pictures of five-star hotels and overseas destinations their partners took them to. If you are not careful as a struggling young man or woman, you will start thinking of how to get money at all costs so that you can also make your own posts,” Ojo said.
While disagreeing with the belief that vendors help couples limit their choices of gifts for the day, Ojo stated that these vendors don’t care about anybody’s relationship because they are just out to make money. “The celebration has been marred by deceit and the love of money. Most of these couples who buy gifts and spend money trying to impress their partners don’t truly love them. They are just doing these things to fit in and also to show off.”
Achu Chinyere recalls that Valentine’s Day used to be a day of love as people share things with their loved ones, family and friends and also get thoughtful gifts back in return without a price tag.
“But today, we see people gifting their partners’ cars, jewellery, and also doing photo shoots to post on the internet for the purpose of influencing others.
“In my own opinion, I feel that Valentine’s Day has been commercialised because you don’t have to wait for a particular day of the year to show that you care and love someone. The notion that couples have to celebrate the day in a certain way fuels the commercialization of the day of love, hence, making shop owners and online vendors cash out on that day.”
Litzy Adeogo Odu told Saturday Sun that Valentine’s Day, like every other celebration, is a very good time for big and small business owners to make huge sales. She added that couples, friends and family members love to make a show of love and affection by getting a gift or something special for their loved ones and this is where the intuition of business owners comes in.
Odu said: “So, as a business owner, you have to make good use of the opportunity to create different packages to suit your target market’s budget and end up cashing out big time. I don’t see anything wrong with business owners making extra money off Valentine’s Day. I didn’t do anything special on that day. My husband and I have a project we are saving towards. We decided not to spend on anything else for now.”
Chinwe Asu said that she is indifferent towards the commercialisation of Valentine’s Day celebrations in Nigeria. She quickly added that one thing she has noticed is that most of the Valentine’s Day packages sold online contain a lot of sugary things which is not healthy for people given the healthy lifestyle awareness going on in the country.
“I think the trend of selling mostly sweet things to lovers on Valentine’s Day should be checked. This trend is everywhere. Even in the supermarket that I buy things from, their Valentine boxes are full of sweets, biscuits, cookies, chocolates, fizzy drinks and sweet wine.”
A mother of three, Asu revealed that she was frustrated when she wanted to patronise one of the vendors to get a box of perfumes for her husband but noticed that the box also contained chocolates and sweets.
The graduate of English Language said: “I didn’t like the fact that the vendor added chocolates to the boxes of goodies she marketed for Valentine’s Days. My husband and I are trying so hard to stay away from sugar-laden foods and I didn’t feel comfortable with the wine in the box too. It’s not the brand that my husband likes. I got him a pack of durable boxers instead because I know he would love them.”