With two weeks to go until Valentine’s Day, major publications and platforms are publishing articles that discourage consumers from buying flowers this Valentine’s Day. As the voice of the floral industry, the Society of American Florists responds to these ads and others that disparage florists and flowers or cast floral gifts in a negative light.

Better Homes & Gardens, Country Living Magazine and People as well as influential blogger Scary Mommy are among the outlets running articles headlined: “This Reese’s Bouquet Is Way Better Than Sending Flowers for Valentine’s Day,” “Forget Flowers — Walmart Is Selling A Reese’s Bouquet For Valentine’s Day: Who needs roses when you’ve got chocolate?” and “Screw Flowers, THIS Is The Kind Of Bouquet Women Want For Valentine’s Day.” The publications have also promoted the stories through their social media channels.

SAF reached out to those publications as well as Walmart and Overstock.com (the articles link to their sites to purchase the candy bouquets) and Hershey’s (the maker of Reese’s and the other candy bouquets mentioned in the articles).

“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,” said SAF’s Jenny Scala, director of marketing and communications.

In addition, in its response to the publications, SAF wrote: “While SAF understands and appreciates your need to provide readers with gift ideas — and likely these companies paid to be part of your top picks — the negative headline seems unfair and unnecessary, as your gift suggestions can stand on their own.”

SAF also used the opportunity to point out to the publications the news on the health benefits of floral gifts: “New research from the University of North Florida shows that people who lived with flowers in their homes for just a few days reported a significant decrease in their levels of stress and improvements in their moods. In addition, a behavioral study from Rutgers University proves scientifically that flowers have an immediate impact on happiness and a long-term positive effect on enjoyment and life satisfaction.”

With advertisers working hard to lure away consumers from floral gifts, it is important for the floral industry to stay positive in their Valentine’s Day promotions, Scala said. SAF provides members with Valentine’s Day marketing resources and ideas at safnow.org/vday to help them stay top-of-mind at the local level including a Social Media Content Calendar with suggested posts and images ready to copy and paste; graphics for websites and social media; and a list of Popular Questions Reporters Ask at Valentine’s Day and Suggested Talking Points.

Members can report negative portrayals of flowers or florists to SAF’s Jenny Scala at jscala@safnow.org.

Read more about how one SAF member convinced two local businesses to change their negative approach.

Katie Hendrick Vincent is the senior contributing writer for the Society of American Florists.