Valentine’s Day is an internationally recognized and popularized holiday, especially in the United States. Prior to the popularization of Valentine’s Day, the tradition of valentines was an uncommon tradition throughout the United States, especially during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. 

In 1913, Hallmark Cards of Kansas City began mass-producing valentines cards across the United States during the industrial revolution due to the emergence of Shakesperian and Chaucerian literature. The mass production of Valentines cards popularized and normalized the tradition of Valentine’s Day for hundreds of years in the United States. Furthermore, the popularization of Valentine’s Day has expanded the emphasis and scope of the tradition.

The expansion of the emphasis and scope of the tradition has been continued through the hands of corporations and companies. According to The New York Times, Valentine’s Day has been exploited by corporations and companies to feed into the incentive of consumerism. The exploitation of consumers to incentivize consumerism on Valentine’s Day has been to cultivate profit for businesses. For example, the consumerist intentions that corporations and businesses have promoted contributes to over $27 billion dollars to the American economy for Valentine’s Day alone.

Furthermore, the recognition of this issue is not a modern observation. The problem has been recognized since the nineteenth century. According to the New York Daily Tribune in 1847, the issue with Valentine’s Day is that it has displaced an honest tradition for a consumerist ideal. In both particular cases, the problem of Valentine’s Day is that it has been largely expanded and transformed the scope of interaction to the point that it’s isolated to the interest of corporations and businesses in relation to a consumerist ideal. However, there are even deeper societal and philosophical discrepancies with the continuation of Valentine’s Day.

The societal implications of Valentine’s Day is transparent through the social framework that it provides to individuals across the United States. The social framework that Valentine’s Day provides is a constricting social model. According to Deluze in his “A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia”, he promotes the idea that oftentimes celebratory traditions can restrict individuals cooperation to the specific holiday. 

Valentine’s Day can restrict certain individuals to care only on the celebratory holidays. However, the relationship should consistently present care for each other regardless of the celebratory tradition. This idea was collaborated by the student body. Junior Austin Knopik said, “It’s important to show care for the person throughout the year.” In this particular case, Valentine’s Day can be a restriction of an individual’s relationship.

The proposition of Valentine’s Day is continued and preserved by corporations and business through the incentivization of consumerism. The incentivization of consumerism expands the scope of the tradition throughout society to the point that it conforms social dynamics and concepts of relationships. This precise notion of social conformity restricts relationships. The hope would be not to eliminate valentine’s day from social consciousness, but rather reform and analyze the value of Valentine’s Day throughout society, especially in the United States.