The Shopping Mall of Love: An Objectification of Feeling
We all know that Valentine’s Day is a little fake. Yes, it may have begun as some ultimate acknowledgement of love, a day to send your loved one handwritten letters proclaiming eternal romance.
However, it is now the day where stores stock their shelves with overpriced heart-shaped chocolates, gargantuan teddy bears that would not fit on any normal person’s bed, and corny cards with cheesy one liners. It is the black friday of emotion, where people scramble to the nearest florist or jeweler to find gifts worthy of expressing their love. Ultimately though, it reveals only one thing: we’ve become consumers of love.
IT IS THE BLACK FRIDAY OF EMOTION, WHERE PEOPLE SCRAMBLE TO THE NEAREST FLORIST OR JEWELER TO FIND GIFTS WORTHY OF EXPRESSING THEIR LOVE. ULTIMATELY THOUGH, IT REVEALS ONLY ONE THING: WE’VE BECOME CONSUMERS OF LOVE.
Hence, there is a commodification of our private lives and desires. We are capitalizing on the opportunity to make profit, selling emotions as products. Each time we want to have an ‘authentic love experience’, we find ourselves purchasing goods or services to stimulate emotion.
Yet, this is not only limited to the dying red roses persistently sold in Navigli or the never been seen before initial letter jewelry. A new form of love commercialisation is emerging, and it's found in tourism.
First, the most obvious love consumption within tourism is the honeymoon marketing scam. Places like the Maldives promote themselves as the most romantic destination in the world, selling lovey-dovey experiences such as floating breakfasts in the shape of a heart, or an idyllic candlelit dinner on a secluded island. By commercializing love on these resort islands, these nations can target the most lucrative type of tourist: the wealthy and willing to spend anything to achieve their idea of romantic utopia.
This marketing scheme is hypocritical in nature. Following the example of the Maldives, this is a deeply religious country. In fact, public displays of affection are only allowed on resort islands. If you were to engage in hand holding or kissing in the rest of the country, it is likely that this simple show of love would throw you in prison. This occurs across the ultimate love destinations of the world; a recent law in Bali prevents unmarried couples from sharing hotel rooms.
Obviously, tourists are exempt from the rule. They are allowed to flaunt their love in champagne-ridden helicopter ride selfies and rose-petal covered beds, because it makes the tourism industry money. The islands need to manipulate love in order to maximize the profit making potential of the tourist. There is clearly a double standard for love; only when it reaps profits, it is promoted.
Another darker side to love consumption is the rise of sex tourism. As you walk down the splintered tiled roads of Pattaya, Thailand, scantily dressed females lift their tops or even skirts, attempting to entice with their “rent-by-hour love hotels”. Generating over 6.4 billion USD annually, ‘love for a night’ is an important source of income for many Southeast Asian nations. Here, young women sell their bodies to older white males, hawking love to make profit. With inadequate law enforcement, it is a booming industry.
Unfortunately, it is so deeply entangled with tourism that half the commercial jet to Pattaya is filled with your typical bald, white man looking for easy love. In the Western world, a new form of racism is manifesting itself against mixed racial children, as they are seen as the product of sex tourism. In other words, using love as a tool to lure tourists has taken a more perverted form.
