Last but not least: From the mating of the birds to the virtual bouquet of flowers

 When lovers give each other lavish bouquets of flowers or place heart-shaped boxes of chocolates under their pillows, it's that time of year again: Valentine's Day makes the cash registers ring. It all began so beautifully in 1382, when Geoffrey Chaucer wrote that birds mated on Valentine's Day - people related this to themselves, and the day of lovers was born. It was then introduced in Switzerland in 1949 - by florists, of course. And it seems to have paid off: An average of 20 million flowers are sold on Swiss counters every Valentine's Day. But it's not just the florists who benefit from February 14: the cell phone industry is also likely to benefit from the day, as Mr. and Mrs. Swiss like to express their romantic feelings via text message: Around 18 million of these short messages are sent every year on Valentine's Day. There seems to be a general trend towards typing feelings rather than expressing them: According to a Valentine's Day study by Microsoft, men and women across Europe prefer to "flirt with their fingers" because it saves them from speechlessness and embarrassing blushes.
The dairy products industry is also hoping for a little more sales on the big day of love: Floralp is offering a Romantico weekend for lovers to win, Valentine's recipes will get the kitchen sizzling, and anyone who completes SMP's new milk commercial with Lovely the cow can win 20,000 francs.
And the St. Gallen agency Complecta is also jumping on the love bandwagon - with a campaign in Second Life. There, a bouquet of flowers can be chosen and a card written in the office. The greetings will then be delivered to the desired avatar by a Compecta employee on Valentine's Day.
So it's no longer just florists who are profiting from Valentine's Day - many other industries have now caught wind of the economic potential of love. And are trying to market it as well as possible.