Question

What is the meaning of consumption as it relates to the cultural context of valentines day

Answer 1

History of Valentine

The holiday has origins in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, held in mid-February. The festival, which celebrated the coming of spring, included fertility rites and the pairing off of women with men by lottery. At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I replaced Lupercalia with St. Valentine's Day.

Celebrations of Valentine's Day Preschool

Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate love and friendship and the joy of having other people in your life. It's a day of flowers, candy and cards decorated with hearts. ... He found that when young men are in love or sharing their lives with a wife and children, they tended to be more cautious.

INTRODUCTION

Valentine’s Day and the surrounding season is a time for rituals and romance in the U.S. This holiday is worthy of study due to the unique consumption, gift/card exchange, grooming, dating, and romance-based consumer behaviors associated with this holiday. Some of these Valentine’s-related behaviors are ritualized to an extent. In a general sense, rituals organize life and give it meaning. Ritualized behaviors are important to study as they may propose consumer behavior principles, which in turn lend marketers to product and service positioning opportunities (Arnould, Price, and Zinkhan 2004, p. 93). Consumer rituals for this holiday are especially enacted by individuals in romantic relationships. Valentine’s Day is generally known as the day for celebrating romantic relationships; yet, this day also celebrates other non-romantic relationships as well (e.g., familial, friendly).

For any type of relationship, however, this holiday celebrates commercialism and spending. This socially constructed, mass-marketed day and surrounding season is the stimulus for many consumers to purchase romantic goods (e.g., roses, chocolate, jewelry) and services (e.g., massage certificates, vacations) for both themselves and for their significant other. Furthermore, this holiday entices many to exchange “Valentines” or similar greeting cards for romantic partner(s), friends, and family members. In fact, over one-billion dollars worth of Valentine’s Day cards sell annually in the U.S.

It is not to say that all consumers look forward to or even like this day of romance and rituals.

For some, Valentine’s Day serves as a somewhat unwelcome reminder of their “single status”. For others, it is a time when society suggests that money should be spent as an indicator of affection. In fact, this holiday can be a source of obligation, self-loathing, and/or disgust for various segments of the population.

Such sentiments entail their own distinct rituals for this holiday (e.g., singles nights at clubs; self-gifts)

RITUALS AND VALENTINE'S DAY

Rituals are sets of multiple, symbolic behaviors that: a) occur in a fixed sequence, and b) tend to

be repeated periodically (Solomon 2002). We analyze the holiday further as it pertains to a variety of classifications of rituals. Valentines Day is a holiday that is associated with a variety of cultural rituals.

Cultural rituals are behaviors that occur in a relatively fixed sequence that are repeated periodically (Arnould, Price, and Zinkhan 2004). Other types of rituals that may be associated with this holiday are religious, magical, aesthetic, calenderical, and rites of passage (Arnould, Price, and Zinkhan 2004).

Such rituals may be further categorized as primarily personal rituals, ethological rituals, or consumer rituals. Personal rituals are those repeated behaviors that are performed via an individual’s emotions and desires. Ethological (e.g., greeting, mating) rituals, however, are a component of biology. Consumer rituals include possession, grooming, divestment, and exchange.Possession rituals occur when a product moves from the market to the place of consumption (e.g., home, workplace).

Grooming rituals are often private behaviors that assist with transforming the private self to the public self and vice versa. Possession rituals may be grooming rituals, in the event that the individual is cleaning, polishing, or restoring the self or the extended self. Divestment rituals are performed as an individual dispossesses something (e.g., a grandmother’s wedding ring). Exchange rituals (e.g., rites of passage) are often associated with gift giving and receiving. We note that rituals exist in cycles, which may be globalconsumption rituals (Rook 1985; Arnould et al. 2004). In any sense, rituals, often retail and market driven, organize life and give it meaning or purpose and may be apparent in various Valentine’s-related behaviors

GIFT GIVING AND EXCHANGE

A substantial portion of academic literature associated with Valentine’s Day is devoted to the study of gift exchange (generally gift giving). For instance, the French anthropologist Marcel Mauss concludes that reciprocity motivates gift giving (1925). Since that time, pioneering insights have been added to that observation. Sherry (1983) combines anthropology (a social aspect) and consumer research (a psychological aspect), to create a macro-model of the gift exchange process. He recommends that the“reformulation” stage (the final stage of the gift giving process) should be studied thoroughly, ask nowledge in this area is crucial to understanding the socio-psychological dynamics of gift giving (Sherry Jr. 1983, p.165). We consider these dynamics as important for understanding Valentine’s gift exchange and related rituals.

Goodwin, Swift, and Spiggle (1990) also examine motivations associated with gift-giving. They propose that gift giving is a product of either voluntary or obligatory motives; time, money restraint, and many consumer behaviors are affected by these motives. Belk and Coon (1991; 1993) explain how such motivations have traditionally been viewed from either an economic or a social model of exchange inappropriate for romantic gift exchange.

EXCHANGING GIFTS AND CARDS

Gift and card exchange is the most frequently mentioned behavior. One informant describes how she is just a partial-conformist to the American norm (Santino).

Many people in America celebrate Valentine’s Day by participating in the same rituals. The most common (gift giving and consumption) rituals are buying your loved one chocolate candy, red roses and wine. I also participate in these typical traditions, but I try and modify them for meaningful reasons.

This informant, like others, partakes in traditional rituals, yet she maintains a sense of individualism on a day that is otherwise conforming to the consumption and/or exchange of specific products and brands.

Valentine’s is a day when many speak of giving personalized gifts in lieu of the “status quo” gifts of roses, chocolate, stuffed animal, and/or perfume. One way to optimize gift giving is to involve as many senses as possible. One informant describes her gift giving technique:

SHOWING AFFECTION

A key group of behaviors involves showing affection. Informants discuss relaxing with lovedo nes as a way of sharing affection. Whereas some individuals involve themselves with “holiday hype”,one young woman shares how she likes to slow down with loved ones on this holiday:

Even though Valentine’s Day is not necessarily about gift giving I enjoy the holiday every year just for the sole purpose that I get an extra chance during the busy year to let my loved ones know I care and have a nice dinner and celebrate each other’s love. My fondest memories of Valentine’s Day is every year building a warm fire after dinner and relaxing with each other.

Kissing, making out, love-making, and sex are other behaviors informants commonly share as a way to show affection to loved one(s) for this holiday. This is one example of “celebrating” the holiday in the private sphere.

For those in and out of romantic relationships, more daring behaviors take place on Valentine’s

Day. This holiday makes it more appropriate to be direct with affection. This day is different:

There is a sense of magic, excitement, and romance.

Conclusion

This shows that cultural events provide a backdrop that shape evaluative judgments—the first demonstration of naturally occurring cultural priming. Contrary to the Stein’s famous quote, rose is not a rose is not a rose is not a rose