Companies continue to disparage flowers to promote their Valentine’s Day offerings. SAF reached out to eight companies this week, asking them to advertise their products on their own merits.
With less than a week until Valentine’s Day, businesses are doing whatever it takes to promote their gifts and services—including putting down flowers. This week, floral professionals alerted the Society of American Florists to numerous ads that disparage flowers. SAF responded by contacting eight companies to inform them that bashing flowers to make their product look good is unnecessary, and that identifying and promoting their products’ selling points results in more focused, successful advertisements.
This week SAF reached out to:
- Tory Burch, a high-end women’s apparel and accessories brand, used the subject line “In Lieu of Flowers…” to promote their Valentine’s Day gifts.
- Local Steals and Deals, a website that carries products from local brands and small businesses, sent an email with the subject line, “Skip the flowers. These practical gifts make everyday special!”
- Real Steal, a hand-crafted, personalized, steel wall décor company, posted a Facebook video that states, “Ditch the Roses. Get her something she’ll really love. A gift that will never die.” Their Valentine’s Day promo code is “BETTER-THAN-FLOWERS.”
- Luxury watch brand, Vincero Collective, published an Instagram story ad with the text “Ditch the Flowers this Year.”
- Unwilted, which creates and sells flower bouquets made from crepe-paper, posted several sponsored ads on social media including images that say, “Paper Flowers Never Die,” “Hypoallergenic, Pollen-Free & Won’t Make a Mess,” and captions that include a list of six reasons why paper flowers are better.
- On-demand wellness company, Soothe, which lets users schedule a same-day spa treatments at home, posted a Facebook video ad with the phrase “Forget Flowers this year… .”
- Relationship counseling business, The Grottman Institute, promoted a relationship skill-building video series as a great Valentine’s Day gift. Their marketing email used the subject line “Forget Flowers.”
- Mixtiles, which takes pictures from your phone and turns them into printed tiles for wall décor, posted a Facebook video ad to promote their Valentine’s Day sale. The video opens with a shot of dead flowers and a note that says, “Guess what? SHE DOESN’T want flowers!”
If you choose to respond to negative advertising or media coverage, here are a few tips to write an effective response:
- Be objective, diplomatic, and reasonable. Describe why you find the news/advertisement offensive or unfair. Explain that you believe in the effectiveness of news/advertisements that promote products based on their own merits.
- Don’t sound defensive. That will only make it seem as though the “attack” on flowers was justified.
- Don’t make unreasonable demands. Unless a story contains a factual error, don’t demand that it be retracted.
- Suggest a middle-ground approach that the news/advertisement could take in the future. You might point out that instead of the phrase, “Don’t buy flowers,” the message could be, “In addition to flowers, add a gift of (company product)…”
If you spot a harmful ad or article about flowers, please send it to edaly@safnow.org.
Elizabeth Daly is the marketing and communications manager for the Society of American Florists.
