Selling love

It stands to reason that after introducing chocolate gift-giving for Valentine’s Day, the chocolate industry also introduced the tradition of obligatory chocolates as a way to generate more sales.

We know that they introduced White Day, a day when men reciprocate the chocolates given by women on Valentine’s Day. But companies had always advertised with either confessing or showing love. When interviewed in 1996, eight large chocolate companies replied that they had never advertised obligatory chocolates, and that if they did, it would probably damage their image. Meiji Seika Company explains that the custom of obligatory chocolates was already common around 1980. However all companies are aware that their cheaper chocolates are used for this purpose.[cf, p. 50] Next, we will take a closer look at the different types of chocolate on the market.