This Valentine’s Day season, the Society of American Florists has responded to 23 instances of harmful floral publicity to date. “That number will rise,” said SAF’s Jenny Scala, director of marketing and communications, “as floral industry members will continue to forward Valentine’s Day email promotions they’ve received later this week after they’ve had a chance to sift through their inboxes.”

By way of comparison, SAF responded to 23 cases in 2016; 16 cases in 2015; 16 in 2014; 10 cases in 2013; 18 in 2012; and 39 in 2011.

As the voice of the floral industry, SAF contacts companies that disparage flowers and asks them to reconsider their approach.

“The main point of SAF’s response is to bring attention to the disparaging floral statements, and ask advertisers to promote products on their own merits,” Scala said. “Success comes when the advertiser ceases running that particular promotion or at least takes note not to go that route in the future.”

Among the companies SAF recently received responses from are:

• Animoto distributed an email promotion with the subject line: “Ditch the roses! We’ve got a better Valentine’s Day gift idea.” The message includes: “It’ll be more meaningful than flowers or candy any day (and last longer, too).” Two hours after SAF contacted the cloud-based video creation service, a customer success manager replied: “We definitely understand why this felt like an attack on your industry and we’re truly sorry for that! We know that our intentions won’t change the way the message was received, but we’d like you to know that we didn’t intend to offend or disparage you or the floral industry at all. We genuinely appreciate you bringing the ‘negativity’ of the message to our attention. We’ve halted any additional email sends with this subject line and we’ll be much more thoughtful in the future with our content.”
• Yelp emailed a promotion that included: “Skip the ugly flower arrangements and stale treats this year as we guide you to the best last-minute gift spots forV-Day.” Hours after SAF sent its email, the company’s director of business outreach replied: “The opening paragraph of the St. Louis Local Yelp is intended to be tongue in cheek as in, “use Yelp to find the best flowers and treats this year.” SAF sent a follow-up message: “We’re glad Yelp supports florists, and hope you’ll keep in mind that floral business owners don’t appreciate it when their products and services are referred to as ‘ugly’ even in a tongue and cheek manner. Your suggestion of ‘Use Yelp to find the best flowers and treats this year’ would be much more appreciated, so we ask that you consider that language in future promotions.”

Other companies SAF contact this Valentine’s Day season include:

• Bluecoat Gin posted on social media: “Fact: #Cocktails make for a better gift than flowers on #ValentinesDay.”
• Buca di Beppo restaurant chain’s print ads read: “Roses are so overrated.”
• FragranceNet sent an email promotion with the subject line: “Skip The Flowers & Chocolates.”
• Gyration, a producer of computer accessories, distributed an email promotion that reads: “Better than flowers for Valentines,” “Better than flowers,” and “This Valentine’s Day, give her something better than flowers.”
• Harley-Davidson distributed an email promotion with the subject line: “Chocolate and Flowers? You Can Do Better.”
• IBM InterConnect posted on social media “Roses don’t last.”
• PhotoSquared, prints cell phone and Instagram photos, ran an advertisement in the February issue of Jmore Baltimore Jewish Living magazine that shows a picture of a vase of dead roses and reads: “A gift from the heart that will last.”
• West Elm, a retailer of contemporary furniture designs and other housewares, distributed an email promotion that includes: “Better than flowers!” 

As reported in the Feb. 8, Feb. 1  and the Jan. 25  issues of E-brief, SAF had responded to Best Buy, Charitybuzz, Goodhousekeeping.com, Microsoft, Not Your Average Joe’s, Portillo’s, Scentsy, Touch of Modern, Victoria’s Secret, Wyndham Vacation Rentals and ZYPPAH.

Forward harmful floral publicity to Scala at jscala@safnow.org.