Valentine’s Day is meant to be the perfect day for friends and couples to share their appreciation for each other. However, with the commercialization of the would-be romantic holiday, Valentine’s Day has become more of a chore rather than a way to show your love for someone else.

There are many theories surrounding the true origins; all including stories of a St. Valentine, a Christian priest who allowed young people to married in secret after it was banned. The holiday, taking place on February 14th annually, is said to be a celebration of St. Valentine’s life, but over time it has evolved into a holiday for people to show their love to important people in their lives.

On one hand, the idea of Valentine’s Day has very good intentions and some people enjoy celebrating it with their significant other. On the other, many others find the holiday to be a waste of time and cause for additional and unnecessary stress on a relationship if a person forgets or doesn’t get their partner some sort of material gift.

All this pressure on couples is a direct result of a large commercialization of the February holiday. With stores stocking up on flowers and chocolate even months in advance and notices on TV advertising things such as “the greatest gifts for your Valentine”, the general public is persuaded into spending money on insignificant things for their partner; if they don’t blow their well-earned money on cheaply-made teddy bears and candy, they could be painted as rude or heartless. Of course, this might not be possible for some people if they are tight on money, but they may be painted as uncaring anyway. Ultimately, large corporations are the largely the only true ones benefiting from the holiday and the holiday is stripped of its true values.

Valentine’s Day could be considered even worse for the single members of the population. With all the talk of love and couples, singles often feel left out and lonely. Sometimes, friends will get each other gifts and such to make up for it, but are still left largely sad about the whole holiday. However, despite this companies still profit from the singles’ percentage of the population. The “Galentine’s Day” trend that brings together single women to have a day with their girlfriends gives money back to the same institutions causing their V-Day miseries, and even just buying a gift for themselves leads to companies profiting off them.

No matter how pure the original intentions of Valentine’s Day, the holiday has unfortunately morphed into an excuse to go on a chocolate spending spree, with no real meaning behind the gifts and dates. It puts ridiculous pressures on couples, leaves single people in the dust, and in the end the only ones getting anything out of it are the companies and stores selling “love”. Even then, nothing about that love in the form of roses and heart-shaped boxes chocolate is genuine, making the holiday one giant capitalist machine with no substance. Maybe, if instead of buying into the Valentine’s Day trend, people actually put forth some effort into really showing their true appreciation for others, we could bring back the true purpose of Valentine’s Day.