Unbeknownst to students, professors at the University of Wisconsin reckon with many of the day to day questions that frustrate college students across America. In February, one of those questions is “what is the deal with Valentine’s Day?”
I interviewed three professors in fields tangentially related to Valentine’s Day to try to figure out what’s behind all the roses, chocolates, dinner reservations, and how to best handle this delicate day.
Fortunately, a handful of Madison professors graciously opened up their minds and their work for a Valentine’s Day themed interrogation to help students sort through the romantic mire.
If you have an inkling that Valentine’s Day might be propped up by the ambitions of opportunistic companies, then you’re probably on the right track, according to UW professor of consumer science Christine Whelan.
According to Whelan, the modern conception and messaging about Valentine’s day is really the creation of consumer culture and effective marketing.
“Valentine’s day is very much a consumer holiday,” Whelan said. “The idea of Cupid shooting his arrow and all the love and heart stuff on Valentine’s Day, that was really a marketing creation to get people to spend money on everything from chocolates to flowers to jewelry, as a way of proving your love by spending a significant amount of money.”
Not only does the marketing around Valentine’s day suggest that consumers should purchase little trinkets for their loves, but diamond companies are upping the ante by pushing expensive, high end purchases, according to Whelan.
But, an increase in material expectations in gift giving is not conducive to the formation of happy, healthy relationships, according to Whelan. Instead, she suggests that couples might take the time on Valentine’s Day to begin the discussion of finances in their relationship. Whelan even operates a website dedicated to facilitating successful conversations about relationship finances.
“For years, I have suggested that everyone forget flowers and talk money with their honey instead. This is a non-traditional Valentine’s day idea, but from the MORE website, there are all these free workbooks particularly geared towards college students to have conversations about money and values and what matters to them most in a relationship,” Whelan said.
But Valentine’s day is about so much more than just the gift giving and cutesy notes, right? Carving out the time to share a genuinely positive moment with your partner can be great for a relationship, and your own health, according to UW professor of human development and family studies Lauren Papp.
According to Papp, the health of our relationships in both our friendships and romances spills over into our own health and wellbeing. Likewise, negative, destructive relationships tend to have harmful health effects on the individuals involved.
“Putting in some positivity and effort to work through things in a positive way will have a lot of benefits for both people in the relationship and of course the relationship overall,” Papp said.
But, humans aren’t the only ones feeling the love this Valentine’s Day.
According to UW professor of public affairs and political science David Weimer, Americans put their money where their mouths are when it comes to professing affection for canines. According to Weimer, who co-published Dog Economics, the economic evidence suggests that people view dogs as substitutes for for very young children and complements to older children. Further, the evidence shows that at the end of a dog’s life, people are willing to make extraordinary efforts to extend it. In the end, many Americans view their dogs as members of the family — and act like it too, Wiemer said.
If all else fails, as Weimer said, “give Fido a Valentines, though a treat is probably better than a card and flowers.”
