Faking or stalking – Valentine promotions tell you how

The Diary likes to settle down on Valentine’s night with a bottle of Plymouth Gin and a Joy Division CD to watch an unremittingly bleak Ingmar Bergman film with the sound turned off before crashing out on the sofa, alone.

This year though, there was some cheer to be had wading through the press releases which desperately aligned all kinds of products with this celebration of love and happiness.

Among the Diary’s favourites were a Newcastle Brown Ale promotion offering drinkers a specially themed card to “woo their loved one and present them with a token of their affection courtesy of the beer”.

Another clever scheme allowed marketing and advertising types to post messages at the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising website, the promoters helpfully pointing out that kissing was a health hazard.

Then there was “content delivery specialist” iTAGG’s anonymous Valentine SMS campaign, which enabled consumers to send text messages to a friend or lover and conceal their identity, or to send “fake” Valentine’s messages from their favourite celebrity.

Sadly, but not unexpectedly, the Diary received nothing again this year but did enjoy Through a Glass Darkly.