So the weather continues to be gray and icy; and it must
generate cynicism. Now we see that
beyond the overpriced flowers and under loaded boxes of candies (yes, Virginia
florists and candy sellers shift their prices and quality in February) we now
see advertisements for $100 stuffed animals.
Just in time for the debate on what to do with the money saved from
lower gas prices.
The more that Hallmark protests that they did not start
Valentine’s Day celebrations, the harder it is to believe them. We have to set
aside our recollection of the Simpson’s ‘Love Day’ episode and realize that the
holiday has been around for a long time (research the Roman celebration of the
feast of Lupercalia) but we can blame the commercialization on Hallmark et al.
From an economic perspective, there is more benefit from
Chinese New Year because the spending and saving is real, than the transfers of
imported flowers at high margins. In the US we don’t openly discuss
prostitution, but the British newspapers are annually loaded with stories from ‘sexperts’
on how business is best for them. And of course the suicide hot lines have the
highest volume of calls.
I was once rather close to a florist – they hate Valentine’s
Day because it brings out the worst customers.
Same for restaurants. Maybe the
bartenders do well and happily due to cynicism, but these sure smacks of a
festival to eliminate from our calendars.
Thus we have a holiday artificially hyped which results in
general grumpiness if not harm. Brilliant.
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