All You Need Is Love
Valentine’s Day still holds appeal, even for men
February 14th has traditionally been a day to celebrate love and affection. Over the years the holiday has become more commercialized and the National Retail Federation estimates that Americans spend $18.2 billion on Valentine’s Day, that’s an average of $136.57 per person. However, in 2019 is this “Hallmark Holiday” outdated or do people still celebrate Valentine’s Day?
Mei Messaging conducted a poll of almost 1200 users and it turns out that the women weren’t as interested in flowers and candy as you might stereotypically expect. Thirty-eight percent of the women polled said that they disliked the holiday, while only 31% of men said they didn’t like Valentine’s Day. Overall the day still seems popular, with 60% confirming they are still in favor of Valentine’s Day.
However, it appears that even though more women dislike the holiday than men, they still celebrate it. Only 50% of males said they celebrate Valentine’s Day, whereas 63% of women still celebrate the day. Perhaps this is due to a more recent trend of women celebrating with their girlfriends, also known as “Galentine’s Day”. Around 30% of the women that we polled said they celebrated Valentine’s Day with friends, compared to only 18% of men. It also seems that people are not afraid to celebrate the day solo, with 23% of the people polled choosing to celebrate alone.
You may think it would be mainly married couples that would want to celebrate the day and it wouldn’t be something that single people would look forward to. In fact, our poll indicated that Valentine’s Day doesn’t fill single people with dread and 60% of our single respondents said they like Valentine’s Day, with 53% of them celebrating the day. It seems that people are still willing to embrace Valentine’s Day, but for some it now has a slightly different meaning to the more traditional candle-lit dinner with a partner. Whether a friend, significant other or relative reach out and let someone know how much you love them this Valentine’s Day.