VALENTINE BLUES
Despite occurring on a Sunday, this year's Valentine is expected to pass without much fanfare as individuals and organisations continue to grapple with the hard economic times, writes Solomon Elusoji
Valentine’s Day is not like Christmas, when you have fancy decoration lining the streets and store fronts. Although it is celebrated in a lot of countries around the world, it is not a public holiday in most of them, including Nigeria. Rather than sing carols in front of large gatherings, Valentine Day is for showing love to loved ones. It is a time when love poems are written and gifts are exchanged. In Nigeria, however, majority of people believe that men should be the ones doing the giving while women do the receiving on Valentine Day.
Over the years, Valentine has proven to be big business, especially for the retail industry. There are no data on how much is spent on Valentine by shoppers in Nigeria. But, in the United States, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), Valentine’s spending in the U.S. has increased every year, from $108 a person in 2010 to $131 in 2013.
Also, in a 2013 survey conducted by the same National Retail Federation in the U.S, 54.7 percent of people said they were planning on purchasing at least one greeting card, 51 per cent planned on a candy purchase and 36.6 per cent on flowers. Other common categories for gifts are jewellery, clothes, meals, movies and gift cards. Although Nigerians do not value the greeting card or flower culture, the other items on the American list – jewellery, clothes, meals, movies, and gift cards – are popular bestsellers on a typical Valentine’s Day across the country. It is not uncommon for couples to go see a movie, visit a restaurant and do some shopping, for Valentine.
But the current economic situation of the country is making more people tighten their purse strings and find more creative ways to express their love during the season. One of such people is Shammah Nelson, a final year student of Biochemistry at the Federal University of Technology, Minna. Every Valentine’s Day, Nelson creates an ad-hoc restaurant on campus, where people can bring their loved ones, have some food and enjoy live music. To make this year’s restaurant happen, he is creating new dishes that are cheaper to make and scouting for trade routes where he can get goods from farmers, rather than patronise the expensive food items displayed by traders in the open market.
“I like to make magic happen without spending a million,” he told THISDAY, “I like to share love.” And he thinks if he can pull this through, despite the harsh economy, he would have taught people that “you don’t need plenty money to be magical.”
Those who have been hit the hardest by the economic slump, however, appear to be business owners, who do not have enough sales to justify expending marketing resources on Valentine’s Day. Taiwo Salau, a sales attendant at a fashion shop, told THISDAY that despite placing special Valentine discounts on most of their products, pre-Valentine sales have not met set expectations. “Sales have been good,” she said, “but it could get better. Our expectations have not been met, compared to last year, when we had more people coming in to buy things for their loved ones.”
Little pre-Valentine buzz was taking place at all the shopping malls in Lagos this reporter visited. There were a couple of Valentine posters hung here and there at the Ikeja Shopping Mall, but on a general note, Valentine might have been seven months away.
“We have no plans for Valentine,” a customer relations officer at the Adeniran Ogunsanya Shopping Mall, Funmi Martins, told THISDAY. “There will be a little decoration put up on Sunday, but we are not having any big event to draw in couples. There is presently no budget for that.” This reporter got a similar response at the nearby Surulere Leisure Mall.
Meanwhile, from a survey conducted by THISDAY, it appears most couples will be spending their Valentine indoors, rather than going on a shopping spree or attending an outdoor event, despite the day falling on a Sunday.
“I’ll go to church, help my kids to their homework and hopefully get lost in a book,” a resident of Port-Harcourt, Constance Onyeji- Jarret, told THISDAY. “On such a day, I’ll prefer a simple and romantic indoor dinner while watching a movie to going out.”
A computer analyst in Lagos, Badmus Ogun, also told THISDAY that he won’t be attending outdoor events due to the state of his finances. “My girlfriend wants us to go out, but I told her we should not. In this kind of economy, it is better for us to conserve our resources, because we don’t know what next will happen. So, we’ll stay indoors. Valentine is not just about taking somebody out, but about showing love.”
Still, corporate brands are not giving up. As usual, there has been a flurry of Valentine promotions and special releases flying around in the media, trying to get attention of consumers. Duet Trendies, a fashion retailer at the Adeniran Ogunsanya, opened a Valentine Shop where customers can get up to 30 per cent discount on wrist watches and other fashion items. Hi-Impact Planet, an amusement park, is running a promotion where couples get to pay N10,000 as against N20,000 for two people. They are also having a live band on Sunday, which will be playing love music throughout the day.
For lovers of literature, Ankara Press, an Abuja-based romance publisher, is releasing six romance novels in print on Sunday. The six novels, which were originally published as e-books, will be priced at N750.
“We have had a fantastic response to the e-books, but have also had a lot of enquiries from readers asking when we will be publishing the books in hard copy,” Ankara Press’ publishing director, Emma Shercliff, said in a press release. “So we’re really excited to announce that we will be releasing the first six Ankara Press novels in print in Nigeria on Valentine’s Day.”
For lovers of good music, the curated playlist offering from giant music distributor, Spinlet, might be worth looking at. Tagged the Figure 8 collection, Spinlet has made available three specially curated playlists of eight tracks each, to cater to the tastes of lovebirds.
The first playlist, “Head Over Heels”, is a wholesome, romantic mix, complete with a sentimental acoustic guitar instrumental, ideal for stay-in dinners and slow-dancing with your one and only. The second playlist, After Dark, appeals to the more mischievous music lover and should set the Valentine’s passion alight. Both of these playlists are available on the Spinlet website – www.spinlet.com. Meanwhile, the third playlist, UnderCover, is another scintillating collection of songs celebrating the awesomeness of valentine.
“We wanted to provide a soundtrack to whatever the special day brings to people,” a marketing communication official at Spinlet, Mimidoo Achineku, told THISDAY. “Valentine's Day is interpreted and celebrated differently by people, but we just wanted Spinlet to be involved in whichever way it's spent.”
Verve is also offering to pay couples’ valentine bills, when they use their Verve cards during the season. For example, when you pay for a movie with your Verve Card at Silverbird Cinemas, you get a free drink and popcorn.
There are many more of these sorts of Valentine promotions and new releases, and consumers would be wise to avail themselves of the opportunities they present.
But the big winners appear to be churches, since the day falls on a Sunday. A large percentage of people who told THISDAY they would be celebrating Valentine outside their homes, said they would be attending a church service. Although Nigerians are said to be one of the most religious peoples on earth, this large percentage is influenced more by the fact that Valentine has Christian origins. It is true that the history of Valentine can be traced to the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration commemorated annually on February 15, but it was Pope Gelasus I, who recast this pagan festival as a Christian feast day circa 496, declaring February 14 to be St. Valentine’s Day. However, scholars believe it was medieval poet Geoffrey Chaucer who first established romance at the centre of the Valentine tradition
The history of the person of Valentine himself has been a bone of contention among historians. A version of his life reports that in circa AD 280, Emperor Claudius II became convinced that married young men faced too many distractions to make effective soldiers. Claudius decided that outlawing marriage for young men was the only way to maintain a strong military force. Valentine, then a priest, disobeyed the Emperor’s decree and arranged secret nuptials for love-struck youngsters. When Claudius discovered Valentine’s plot, he sentenced him to death. His execution was carried out on February 14.
Another legend claims that Valentine was arrested for providing assistance to prisoners. While incarcerated, he, rather controversially some might say, fell in love with his jailer’s daughter. Prior to his execution, he confessed his love in a note rumoured to be the first Valentine’s Day card.
Whichever tale is correct, notwithstanding, the reason for the season is clear: to love and be loved.