PORT WASHINGTON, NY, February 12, 2007 – Valentine’s Day has long been touted in American culture as the official day to express love and romance. People wish to show appreciation for others, but many also feel that Valentine’s Day might be a bit contrived. According to The NPD Group’s SnackTrack® service, only one in four people feel that Valentine’s Day is romantic, while just as many people feel that it is too commercialized.
NPD reveals the top ten responses to how people generally feel about Valentine’s Day.
| Top 10 feelings about Valentine’s Day (% of adult responses) |
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“Although people may have mixed feelings about Valentine’s Day, at least 1 in 12 – probably men – will celebrate because they want to stay out of the dog house,” says Harry Balzer, vice president of The NPD Group.
For those people who will celebrate Valentine’s Day, the top activity will be giving a card or a gift (70% of those who will celebrate). Twenty-five percent of those who will celebrate will go out to dinner, while 10 percent will bake, 10 percent will make homemade Valentines, and 10 percent will go to a party.
Among those people who will give gifts, the top gift will be either a Valentine’s Day card (56% of gift-givers) or candy (55%). Only a third of gift-givers will give flowers (30%). Stuffed animals (20%) and jewelry (13%) round out the five most popular gifts given.
If candy is given, it most likely will come from a mass merchandiser (44% of candy purchases), or a supermarket (21%), drug store (18%), dollar store (8%), or gas station/convenience store (2%).
Balzer continues, “For those who don’t want to get in trouble, there’s always the gas station on the way home.”
SnackTrack®
Tracks consumption of convenience-oriented snack food products obtained from all channels, consumed both in-home and away-from-home; captures situational dynamics such as use at meals, meal replacement, or in between meals, activity during consumption, and also motivations for choice (daily online data collection measuring yesterday’s consumption; reported quarterly)
About The NPD Group, Inc.
The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 1,600 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, commercial technology, consumer technology, entertainment, fashion, food and beverage, foodservice, home, office supplies, software, sports, toys, and wireless. For more information, visit www.npd.com.