Valentine’s Day has been celebrated for ages through displays of love and affection for those close to us. During this time of year, many companies advertise products like flowers, chocolates and teddy bears. These advertisements have made Valentine’s Day the second highest money making holiday (after Christmas), which suggests that the holiday circulates merely around profit rather than love.

On average, Americans spend $132 on Valentine’s Day gifts, making the holiday a $18.9 billion industry. Most businesses, like restaurants and flower shops, plan ahead for the holiday of love by marking up their prices in order to increase profits from lovers and last minute gift shoppers. Additionally, it seems that people are likely to spend more money on their gifts in order to win someone over on Valentine’s Day rather than focusing on intangible emotions.

“Valentine’s Day is just an excuse to buy people’s love. If you really loved someone, you’d treat them respectfully and make them feel special every day,” sophomore Guneet Moihdeen said.

Although the amount of money spent on the holiday is astronomical, there are still some people that think Valentine’s Day is more about love than money. On Valentine’s Day, people take time to plan out the perfect date and decide on what to get their valentine in order to show how much they love them. To some couples, spending money on gifts does not affect their relationship, since they may value the time they have together more than any box of chocolates.

When asked about the holiday, many people think it is about money, since they feel obligated to purchase gifts for their partner.  It’s common knowledge that men have especially grown to dread the holiday, seeing as the pressure of getting the right gift is stereotypically on them. Overall, spending will rise this Valentine’s Day season, because the holiday has come to also include friends, parents, teachers and even pets; according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), consumers will spend $815 million this year just on pets alone. With the inclusion of all these people and animals, Valentine’s Day has become more about money and less about the chemistry between two people.

Valentine’s Day was once about romance, but now businesses are taking advantage of the holiday by raising prices of products and services in order to increase revenue. Since Valentine’s Day pressures people into buying gifts like cards, flowers and chocolates, it is almost the perfect business plan. This multibillion dollar industry bases its profits off of consumers’ emotions and has made the holiday of love into the holiday of selling love.