Valentine’s Day is a romantic occasion for couples and a huge business for the vendors of greeting cards, books, wines, electronics etc. To know more about the commercial side of this Lover’s day, a faculty of the Northeastern University was interviewed and was asked to analyse what the holiday meant to the business in the town. Tony Gao, an assistant professor of Marketing in the College of Business Administration, says that the trend of physical gifts has been replaced by gift cards. People now prefer spending on intangible exercises instead of tangible ones. These exercises may include yoga and fitness memberships, theatres, life insurance policies, and hotel gateways. They portray the affection and love that you have towards your Valentine just as well.
Grey Cloutier, project manager in the Bouve College of Health Sciences, says, though Valentine’s Day is an occasion to surprise your partner with a romantic dinner and a heart-shaped cake, it likely spoils the fitness schedule. Instead, you can celebrate in some other ways than adding those calories and ask your partner to join too. All the candy can be replaced by fruits and flowers. You can decide to go for a walk and exercise together. Let it be a healthy and a fit Valentine for you!
When asked about the earliest reference of Valentine’s Day in Literature, Erika Boeckeler, assistant professor of English mentioned the poem of Geoffrey Chaucer named “The Parliament of Fowls”. The poem begins with a speaker in a parliament which indulges in the argument of finding the best suitor for a beautiful female bird. But at the end, the bird does not select a mate, rather waits to think over and get an advice. This shows the importance of thinking and having patience while choosing a partner because it is one of the most important decisions of one’s life. One cannot rely on relationships which are merely convenient or socially pressured.
Akshara Palshetkar