Photo Illustration by Edgar Vargas and Matt Weir / The Collegian

Valentine’s Day, as it has come to be known in American culture, is a day for celebrating and expressing one’s love toward another individual. However, the symbolism typically conferred upon Feb. 14 has been lost amid the consumerists’ shuffle.

What was once a date exclusive to the realm of lovers, has become an orgy of hegemonic corporations profiting from the insecurities of the general populace. It’s no longer individuals expressing their love for one another; instead, it is prurient American retailers displaying their rather profitable infatuation with the holiday.

In 2009, Americans purchased approximately 190 million Valentine’s Day cards, according to the Greeting Card Association. This coupled with the soaring costs of mediocre and clichéd gifts has made Valentine’s Day a multi-billion dollar industry.

Valentine’s Day has undergone a complete a root-and-branch overhaul, evolving from pagan festival to the second biggest American holiday. Why? Because our consumerist culture has perpetuated the phenomenon.

More than 62 percent of Americans say they plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day by exchanging gifts with someone, according to a Gallup poll. Couples will spend an average of $63.34 on gifts for their significant other, according to a 2010 Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by the National Retail Federation.

Love, said Aristotle, is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. He was speaking of the two lovers, not the buyer and seller.

Valentine’s Day should be celebrated as it was meant to, at an intimate level with the one we’re closest with. To “prove” our love by buying senseless gifts because that’s what Hallmark tells us to do only cheapens the love we are trying to prove.