Went for a run today. My body didn’t feel like one but I needed to get out of the house. It’s been a week largely home based working on mind numbingly boring spreadsheets. To keep me sane the radio has been blasting out. Problem is that increasingly the airwaves are filled with adverts. The dreaded Valentines Day ones. Apparently it’s next Friday. Would never have guessed that one. You know the adverts

  • Your special one deserves the best so buy them this special…..
  • What better way to spend Valentines Day than to have that special candle lit meal….
  • Looking for that gift that shows how much your loved one means to you….

I really understand Valentines Day. To many people it’s a great romantic day. Before the world changed I would have lapped up those adverts. But now it’s a very different world for me. Now it’s cheap commercial marketing. You can only be in true love if you spend lots of money. Sometimes I think advertisers forget about the real world. True love doesn’t rest on money. It’s also a world which isn’t perfect. People are lonely. People are grieving. People are abused. People are in relationships where love has died. Some people are loners. So to many Valentines Day is a nightmare. An unwanted reminder of life. It is to me. Every advert reminds me of a life now gone. It’s like a dagger through my heart. So eventually one too many adverts forced me to hit the trail. As ever a run often delivers a lightbulb moment. Let’s turn this into a little game.

When I get back I will become the Valentines Day Advert Referee. Every time I hear a company doing an overtly romantic advert then I will give them a red card. The red card comes with an automatic one month ban. I will boycott that company for a month. The first red card was awarded to a local Flower Shop chain. Unlikely that I would use them but anyway they are on the banned list. Suddenly I’m not the one hiding behind the chair. I’m in charge. The banned list started to fill up. Rather annoyingly my local supermarket made the list. That’s me shopping at the next towns rival shop. Then M&S became a repeat offender. Clearly a one month ban was not a sufficient deterrent. For the second offence it’s a three month boycott. Twenty minutes later they offended again. Now it became a 6 month shopping boycott. I warned the radio the fourth advert would bring a lifetime boycott of the shop. Clearly that threat worked. The annoying M&S special meal for two advert stopped.

Suddenly it was time to do the school run. Again more Valentine adverts on the radio. More boycotts handed out. Tempted to increase the punishments as many kids are likely to be listening now. Many kids suffer Valentines blues as well. Then the red line was crossed. Another M&S advert. That’s it. It’s a lifetime shopping ban. That’s a new shop needed for the school uniform and shirts then.

The banning game helped distract me today. But the bottom line is the 14th February is a difficult time for many. The last thing we need is week upon week of adverts rubbing salt into the wound. Maybe we need a new rule. Valentines Day adverts can only start on the 13th. At least then we just need to avoid the world for two days. But at the current rate I will be boycotting thousands of shops by next Friday.

124 thoughts on “Valentines Day Boycott”

  2. Here’s a list of alternative holidays you can celebrate:

    Frederick Douglass Day
    International Book Giving Day
    League of Women Voters Day
    Library Lovers Day
    National Condom Awareness
    Day
    National Creme-Filled
    Chocolates Day
    National Donor Day
    National Ferris Wheel Day
    National Have a Heart Day
    National Pet Theft Awareness
    Day
    National Women’s Heart Day
    No One Eats Alone Day – February 14, 2020
    Pet Theft Awareness Day
    Quirky Alone Day
    Race Relations Day
    Singles Awareness Day (S.A.D.) (some celebrate this on the 13th or 15th, to get away from the commercialization of Valentine’s Day). Also known as Singles Appreciation Day
    Statehood Day in Arizona – (Local Observance in Arizona)
    World Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day
    World Sound Healing Day

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  6. I don’t mind the idea of cute cards and candy even though I’m alone, but I cannot stand companies trying to convince people to go into debt for jewelry and other ridiculous items on any day. I just hate it!

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  7. I am anti-commercialized holidays in general. Ugh. And I dislike shopping to begin with.

    Having said that, my mom and daughter hand craft cards. That’s different. 😉

    But they also do that for birthdays and other holidays.

    Anyway…your banning thing is a great idea!

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  8. Yes, I agree that Valentine’s Day is really painful for a lot of people, perhaps even the majority of people … And true love isn’t about giving someone a card or some flowers … it’s about being there in all the everyday moments, and knowing that this person cares deeply for you. I’m glad you’ve known and given that love …. But I’m also truly sorry that you lost your partner. So tragic.

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  9. I banned it years ago, helped I had an ex whose birthday it was. Other days I refuse to celebrate include mothers, fathers, grandparents, sisters, brothers day. If I could get away with Easter, Halloween and Christmas I would as well, but the small one objects

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      17. Ouch, thats the main reason why my friend doesn’t boycott them, because they have the only school uniform which her son will wear, everything else she has tried he hates the feeling on his skin, as soon as she doesn’t have to buy it, she is going to boycott them, sometimes your morals have to be a little bit flexiable when it comes to your child

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  10. Think of it as The St. Valentine Day’s Massacre. 7 men/associates of Chicago’s North Side were shot by 4 unknown men dressed as police officers. Celebrate the wickedness. Not the icky lovey dovey crap. I don’t believe in it at all other than I get Tember a card and candy. 🙂

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  12. I don’t “do” holidays but most especially that commercial farce. I fully support “singles awareness day” but even that isn’t enough to get me out of the house. Far better to wait till Feb 15 and buy gobs of chocolate for 1/2 price!!

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  15. We don’t tend to pay a lot of attention to Valentine’s day — if things work out timewise, we might do something, otherwise we won’t bother. That said, the endless commercialisation of these holidays does get very annoying after a while.

    On a slightly related note, did you know that February 12th is Darwin Day. A good day to go and do something sciency 😉

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  16. Like Christmas, it’s too commercialised with big companies out to make bigger profits.
    Last year, Hubby and I shared a portion of fish and chips from the local chippy for a change. The batter was soggy on the bottom and a bit tasteless and the chips too many even though it was a single portion. This year, we might invest in a piece of steak I’ll cook at home, which will surprisingly cost about the same.

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      13. I got rid of my fryer years ago, and stopped buying oven chips in favour of garlic seasoned wedges (Aldi). A pack costs 75p or thereabouts and we get at least five meals out of it, 10-12 for Hubby as I don’t usually have them anyway.

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  17. Honestly, the “holiday” *is* purely commercial. One of my least-favorite things is seeing all the resigned men buying a rose or chocolates at the grocery store on the 14th. Maybe if they looked happier doing it, I’d believe they actually wanted to.

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      3. I tried once – It was when I was trying to run for three hours. I guess I felt intimidated by my quest because I couldn’t focus on what was being said so I just turned it off.

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      5. Gosh, I don’t know. I find if I think about people or things that bother me, I run awful. I can think about the schedule and be okay. I think about things to write about. I dunno?

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  19. I love the photo. I’m sorry about the Valentines Day grief. It’s an awful day, even with someone to share it with. I always felt it was too much pressure, and I messed up many a Valentines Day by being a fickle emotional woman. Ugh…

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  22. I believe it’s all about the sales. Sadly.. I never liked Valentine’s Day I believe the person in your life should be special every day. And for the love ones passed it should be a day of honoring them. I’m happy you made it out for a run .its good to be out and about less thinking. Hugs to you.

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  23. Pingback: Valentines Day Boycott – The Unbelief of Grief

  25. I agree on the bans! The money these people think adults can whip out to spend on what is essentially a made-up holiday is ridiculous. It’s one thing to promote DOING something together with loved ones, but shelling out a couple grand for blah blah blah is just foolish. Does your son’s school do anything on Valentine’s Day? The kids here give their classmates valentines.

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  26. I love your idea to punish companies for their innane Valentine’s marketing ploys. As for Marks and Sparks, they have been on my banned list for years. They would not accept some old (but not dated) gift certificates. They had issued them instead of a proper refund on a purchased item for my aged Mother-in-law that didn’t fit when I tried it on her (She was in a dementia home). When I went to use them, they said, we no longer honour those… It was advertised that they’ll were ending. Well I did not see that in the newspapers which I don’t buy, or the TV that I rarely watch. I wrote to head office… (now costing me time and postage), and they said ‘nope,’ not refunding your £15… So that was it. Been 10 years since they even saw my foot in the door! Charlatans.

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  29. Well, I am not a huge fan of Valentines Day myself. We, in Romania have a different celebration for Love which is called “Dragobete” but I am not dying for that one either.
    I believe that love must be expressed every day to the loved ones that are besides us and not in a specific day.

    In my turn I managed to make a present for my loved one but ended up home after a long tiring day at work, with a foggy vision and low spirit. So, Valentines day is just pretext to offer something to a specific dear one and to love apparently.

    But I did not felt in the mood to love anyone that day. Not even myself.
    So I totally understand you.

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  30. I think Valentine’s Day is a very different holiday for different people. For those in a close, romantic relationship, it’s fun. But for those who are single, or those who are grieving a loved one, it’s a horrible reminder of what they don’t have. I wish it could just be about love in all it’s forms, because that’s something everyone could celebrate. Meanwhile, I say you should ignore it if you want!

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