By Sophia Gong '26
In the leadup to Valentine’s day, stores across the world set apart color- coded cards for “him” and for “her” and multi-million dollar ad campaigns are launched, encouraging men to splurge on their female partners. Tiktok street interviews of women screaming “girls don’t want flowers this Valentine’s day!!” go viral, and Instagram ramps up the algorithm to promote romance-related hashtags. The collective narrative is that Valentine’s day is a day for boyfriends and girlfriends, Missus and Misters, and young boys hoping to attract the attention of girls. What seems to be ignored by mass-scale marketing is the fact that many relationships fall outside of heteronormative norms – relationships that seem to be ignored by the societal narrative that Valentine’s day is for straight people.
Although Valentine’s day was intended as a day to celebrate love, it’s hard for individuals to feel included in the celebrations when their definition of love is excluded. The narrative of Valentine’s day was never intended to be heteronormative – corporations made it so. It’s too late to blame the centuries-old-stereotypes of heterosexual love. The problem in society lies within the adamant persistence against acknowledging the fact that relationship norms have changed.
But unfortunately, profit has never been grounded in sensitivity. Corporations don’t care about feelings – not until it affects their sales. According to Statistica, Americans spent 25.9 billion US dollars on Valentine’s day shopping in 2023 alone. Heteronormative marketing has been enormously successful – so why should companies change?
Queer people have been locked out of traditional heterosexual celebrations of love for centuries. Queer people have had to fight enough to be recognized individually , let alone as a couple. It hasn’t even been a decade since the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.Now, nearly 20% of Gen Z in the United States identify as queer – a sizeable portion of the population. If corporations were to cater to queer people in their Valentine’s day ads, an increase in revenue would be certain.
Valentine’s day should be a day that celebrates all relationships, not just ones that fit into the Hallmark standard of what is marketable. It’s time corporations start caring about feelings – because feelings sell.
Senior Editor: Caridee Chau '25
Graphic: Lucy Chen '24
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