08/02/2019. If there’s one date that doesn’t go unnoticed by couples (but also by singles), it’s probably February 14th. Yes, Valentine’s Day, the lovers’ day! It’s a blessed time of the year when red hearts and flowers line storefronts, horny couples hog the restaurants, and the sexy lingerie is suddenly xD-rated.
I can see the rage coming that Valentine’s Day is nothing but a commercial holiday and that you don’t have to wait for this day to please your partner. Yeah yeah… But at Stileex we think that if we can do a poll on corruption, vacations or weekends, we can do one on love, right? So we went out on the street to meet the people of Tananarivo and ask them about it. In this article, we take stock of the Tananarivians and Valentine’s Day!
The majority of Tananarivians do not celebrate Valentine’s Day
If you thought that the Malagasy were all in bouquets of flowers and chocolate boxes for Valentine’s Day, you’re mistaken. Indeed, our survey reveals that (only?) 40% of the Tananarivians, all kinds combined, celebrate Valentine’s Day.
We wanted to know the reason for this “abstention” and it turns out that among the 59% who do not celebrate the lovers’ day, 45% consider that it is not worth celebrating. Then, 30% believe that it’s just another day and 20% think that it’s a commercial holiday. It should be noted that the remaining 4% did not express an opinion.
Then, we also asked those who celebrate Valentine’s Day whether, for them, giving presents was mandatory on that day. It turns out that for 57%, it is! 30% then think that it is not mandatory if the other person shows attention (small words, etc.) and 11% think that it is not mandatory.
Our survey also showed that 87% of them were giving gifts on February 14, while 90% were receiving gifts. Finally, 84% of them went out, had a meal or simply did something special for their last Valentine’s Day.
What the Tananarivians expect from their Valentine’s Day 2019
Whether or not to celebrate Valentine’s Day depends mainly on the couple’s feeling (and budget). In any case, what is certain is that by 2019, 77% of Tananarivians will celebrate Valentine’s Day.
For this event,46% of them expect to receive a gift. 15% expect an outing (restaurant, show or concert), 10% expect a special meal, 7% rely on kind words or some non-material attention and 5% rely on a menu. It should be noted that 17% are simply not expecting anything for the day.
Valentine’s Day in Madagascar as seen by men
For this Valentine’s Day survey, we wanted to find out if men are more romantic than women or vice versa. To do this, we segmented the opinions by gender.
So it turned out that 40% of men usually celebrate Valentine’s Day. Of those who boycott it, 44% think it’s not worth it. This is followed by 32% who think it’s just another day, 20% who think it’s a commercial holiday, and 4% who didn’t say.
Getting back to the men who celebrate Valentine’s Day, here are some more numbers:
- 54% of men think it’s mandatory to give gifts that day
- 13% think, on the contrary, that it is not mandatory
- 31% say that it is only optional if special attention is paid to the other person
- 90% give gifts to their loved ones
- 92% receive them from their partners
- 84% did something special on their last February 14th
- and 79% will celebrate Valentine’s Day this year
Among those who will celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, 49% of men are waiting for a gift. Next: 15% expect an outing (restaurant, show), 8% expect a special meal, 4% expect kind words or non-material attention, and 6% expect a card. Note that 15% of these gentlemen expect nothing for Valentine’s Day 2019.
Valentine’s Day in Madagascar as seen by women
When we look only at women, the survey reveals that 40% of them also celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Among those who do not celebrate, 47% think it is not worth it. Afterwards, 27% consider it to be just another day, 2% say it is a commercial holiday and 5% did not express their opinion.
For those of you women who are celebrating February 14th, here are the other figures on Valentine’s Day:
- 61% think it is mandatory to give gifts to their partners.
- 28% say it is not mandatory if there is a special attention behind it.
- 9% think it is not mandatory to give a gift on this occasion
- 84% give gifts for their loved ones
- 88% receive gifts
- 84% did something special on their last Valentine’s Day.
- and 76% will celebrate Valentine’s Day this year.
To mark the day this year, women are expecting something special:
- a gift for 44% of them
- an outing (restaurant, show, etc.) for 14%
- a special meal for 12%
- Sweet words and all other non-material attentions for 8%
- a card for 3%
Conclusion of this survey on the Valentine’s Day of the Tananarivians
Even though Valentine’s Day has (almost) become a universal holiday and is well known in Madagascar, only 40% of Tananarivians see it as an opportunity to exchange sweet words and gifts as a proof of love. And if for some, it is a date to be marked with a white stone, for others on the other hand, there is no reason to make a big deal out of it.
Moreover, among the Tananarivians who do not do it, 45% think that Valentine’s Day is not worth celebrating and 30% think that it is a day like any other.
But the good news is that 77% of those who usually celebrate Valentine’s Day will do so this year. And for the occasion, the thing most expected by the (small) majority is a gift (46%). But basically, at 83%, they all expect something special for the day.
We can also note that even if 87% of Tananarivians offer gifts to their partner for Valentine’s Day, only 57% think it is mandatory to do so. The rest, therefore, do it without them thinking it’s necessary and that, I think it’s cool.
And when you look at the results by gender in the survey, nothing much different is worth noting. The trends are pretty much the same for men and women. Except maybe the fact that only 2% of women think that Valentine’s Day in Madagascar is a commercial holiday compared to 20% of men. Commercial holiday or not, at least we know that the consumer society will make you feel guilty if you don’t blow a few bucks on this day dedicated to amûûûûr :P.
For my part, I have nothing against Valentine’s Day, but I don’t celebrate it with great pomp and circumstance either. With Monsieur, we just take the opportunity to spend a sweet evening at home around a good dinner, just to give a little more romance to the everyday life :). And you, how are you going to spend yours?
