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concept imported from the West. For marketers, this is a great opportunity to increase their sales as there will be more demand for flowers and gifts as well as hotel rooms on this day. Yet, the concept of Valentine’s Day, its history and the beginning are different from the present day celebrations.
Valentine’s Day (Saint Valentine’s Day) is celebrated on 14 February every year to express love, affection and care for each other by sending cards, presenting flowers or offering confectionery. The day is named after a famous saint. But there are several stories about this saint.
According to Newsround of BBC, the popular belief about St. Valentine is that he was a priest from Rome in the third century AD. Emperor Claudius II had banned marriage because he thought married men were bad soldiers. Valentine felt this was unfair, so he broke the rules and arranged marriages in secret. When Claudius found out, Valentine was thrown in jail and sentenced to death. There, he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and when he was taken to be killed on 14 February he sent her a love letter signed “from your Valentine”.
By deviating from the real meaning of “Valentine”, at present, people all over the world celebrate Valentine’s Day in different ways. In Sri Lanka also, the situation is the same during the last several decades and the real meaning of Valentine’s Day is lost. Yet, there are others who argue about Valentine’s Day and query as to why a symbol of love is celebrated only on one day of the year and during the rest of the year it is completely forgotten.
The same section of people argue about the meaning of days like Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, which also have the same ideology and are Western concepts, as youth in the West are limited in their care for parents (maybe due to their busy lifestyles); in most instances these days are also limited to sending greeting cards only. But, in counties like Sri Lanka, the bond between parents and children is different and lasts longer.
Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka too, the market economy has invaded and destroyed relationships and traditions which were cherished for centuries. Now we can see people celebrating Valentine’s Day which is a good sign in one way, as they have a feeling of love and affection at least on one day of the year. Many shops in Colombo and other major towns have decorated their outlets with hearts and other tokens of love. Many hotels have huge celebrations, especially dinners for couples, and some charge higher price for rooms too.
But, this year, Valentine’s Day celebrations may be different as it is on a Poya Day (Navam Full Moon Poya Day). Navam Poya is a significant event for Buddhists as two important events took place on that day – the first congregation of the Maha Sangha or the First Buddhist Council, and the appointment of two chief disciples of the Buddha as Aggasavakas (chief disciples of the Buddha), Sariputta and Moggallana.
On Poya days, Buddhists (the majority of Sri Lankans are Buddhists) worship at temples. Generally, shops and businesses are closed on Poya days, and the sale of alcohol and meat is forbidden in all parts of the country. Therefore, hotels will also not be able to sell liquor and meat which leads to a drop in business. As a result, the number of youths celebrating Valentine’s Day on Poya Day may also be less.
This will be a challenging situation for marketers selling Valentine’s products. In strategic management, these factors are called PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technology, Legal and Environmental) which cannot be controlled, but have to be adjusted accordingly. Such situations are social factors and the ways and means in which a company faces such situations will be a case study of external environmental scanning in marketing and strategic management.
On the other hand, this is an opportunity for religious leaders to show the real meaning of life to devotees and encourage them to come to the temples (this is something called ‘marketing for nonprofit organisations’) to convince them about the real meaning of ‘love’ instead of the marketing form of ‘love’.
