Today, love is well-nigh ubiquitous. It’s almost impossible to find an ad, package or website that doesn’t have the word slapped on it, along with heart icons and pictures of people holding up their hands in the stylized figure of a heart.

That’s what I call progress.

However, that progress is not what many of us who grew up amid the chaos of the sixties would have predicted. Love has reached a high point in our society, but not through protest and social division and political action. Through marketing. It has evolved over time, peacefully and productively, a testament to the inherent beauty of our capitalist system.

Because, to some extent, this evolution has been incremental, many of us might not see how much progress we’ve made on this score in recent years. It’s time to look around and appreciate what we have, to stop and smell the sweet, sweet love. So, please join me in considering the following examples of how closely linked love is with marketing. You might say it’s a match made in heaven.

Made with Love
Many businesses take the direct approach by telling us that products they sell contain love.

The variety of products “made with love” sends the mind reeling. Consider Washington D.C.’s Made with Love Catering. And Pennsylvania’s Made With Love Not Gluten Bakery and Made With Love Juicery.

Packages of cheese from Clover assure us the product is “The only cheese made with love,” but I bet plenty of other cheese manufacturers would dispute that claim. Hey, in a free-market economy like ours, a little competition is a healthy thing.

Annie’s macaroni and cheese is also “made with love.” The package tells us so, backing up this message with plenty of feel-good words (“joy,” “yum” and “yummy”) and images (bunnies, a peace symbol, a heart).

Gazing at this package, I’m reminded of what another pop music sensation of the 1960s, Ohio Express, sang:

“Yummy, yummy, yummy, I’ve got love in my tummy

And I feel like a-lovin you

Love, you’re such a sweet thing, good enough to eat thing

And that’s just a-what I’m gonna do”

But the fun doesn’t stop with food. Online, you can visit the “Fresh Made with Love” company, which sells “personal care products,” or Bed, Bath and Beyond, which sells the “Made With Love Stoneware Cookware and Kitchenware Collection.” Ten Thousand Villages recently emailed customers, touting Christmas decorations that are “handcrafted and made with love.”
At a recent visit to a brick-and-mortar Office Depot, I found a display where big plastic storage bins were sold beneath the announcement, “Made with (Heart Sign)”.

My personal favorite has to be a marijuana dispensary in Minnesota called “Love Is an Ingredient.” Bring on those good vibes!

Love Is the Product
Some marketers, rather than saying their products are made with love, suggest their products actually are love by including the L-word word right up front in brand names.

On the internet, you can buy products from Love Shoes or Mad Love Shoes brands.

Reach for the Booda Butter Tub of Love made by Booda Organics, and slather on some moisturizer. “Spread the Love … All of our families and fans can now enjoy more buttery love at a better value!” gushes the manufacturer’s website.

If you’re willing to drop a few more bucks, you can buy a Love ToothBrush online. The company’s website says, “Engage In And Enjoy This New Quantum Leap Of Toothbrush Technology!”

Don’t let the $1,000 price tag for the Virgin Blue Edition Love ToothBrush freeze you in your tracks. Consider it an investment. Made in limited editions, these beauties are bound to rise in value. Think Beanie Babies and Cabbage Patch dolls.

If you’re in the market for something else on the high-end side, why not indulge yourself by buying a Lovesac StealthTech at one of a number of different retailers in the U.S.? The website for the manufacturer, the Designed For Life Furniture Company, calls the product “An unparalleled, immersive home experience.”

For those who are still a little unclear on what the product is, the site explains, “With StealthTech, the next evolution in Sactionals has arrived, and it’s extraordinary.” A Sactional, it appears, is “the world’s most adaptable couch.”

These babies have speakers built in.

To get some idea of cost, I designed my own Lovesac online. The total was $6,495.50, which is on the low end because I picked the least expensive options, with one notable exception. I added a Lovesoft filler for $525. Here’s how the site describes this stuff: “A luxurious material that’s soft, supple, and resilient. Lovesoft keeps its lofty look without the need to fluff.” No need to fluff? I’m sold.

Target reaches for the stars when it comes to love, advertising that it has “Everything you love.” That’s what I’m talking about!

Ike’s Love and Sandwiches restaurant chain started in San Francisco, California and has now spread to other states. Imagine the gratification of sashaying in and saying, “The regular, please: a poor boy sandwich, a double helping of love with extra hugs and kisses, and keep the change.”

In San Francisco alone, there are 245 fictitious business names that feature the word “Love.” Included are such worthies as Bottle Love (manufacturer of decorative, reusable water bottles), Love Berry (an ice-cream parlor) and Love Shack (a marijuana dispensary).

It’s not only chains and nationwide brands that get in on the act. A business in Portage, Michigan is called “Peace, Love and Little Donuts.”

And who can forget the cultural icon Luvs disposable diapers? These treasures have been filling up our landfills for years and are still flying off the shelves.

A little more subtle are marketing plans that equate products with love but don’t actually use the magic word in brand names.

A TV ad for Macy’s says, “Give Love,” and shows a man unwrapping a present at a party. It’s … wait for it … his very own little drone. A mailing from the same company says, “Give Love. Give Style” and shows a young man cavorting about in camo pants and grinning widely. Nothing says “love” like drones and camo. Unless maybe it’s facial recognition technology. Or AI.

If you keep a sharp eye out for deals, you can sometimes come across incredible cost savings on love. For instance, signs on trucks for the California-based company Boulevard say it’s in the business of “delivering love, joy and happiness.” All three, presumably, for the price of one.

A billboard ad for Stella Rosa wine says, “Love is Stella Rosa.”

Uncle Matt’s Organic Orange Juice, headquartered in Clermont, Florida, gives us “love at first sip.” How romantic! My lips are tingling.

As a sign of things to come, Subaru trumpets these glad tidings about its electric vehicle Solterra: “Love is now electric.”

The Power of Suggestion (and Command)
Some companies stop short of telling us their products are actually made with love or actually are love. Instead, they settle for friendly reminders that we do or should love what they sell.

The Elephant Playing Cards company tell us, in a note that comes with decks, “We hope you LOVE your new deck” and “We (heart-shaped emoticon) seeing customers with their new cards!”

Over the internet, the Empire Today company invites people to “Love Carpet Again.”

TV ads for Honda offer, “More to Love.” Boy, that has “Vroom, Vroom” beat five ways to Sunday.

A message on the main page of Amazon.com told me it had “Lots to love for everyone.”

Clicking that link, I found various subsets, including: Most-Loved, Foodies, Same-Day Gift Finds, Date Night, Internet Favorites, Domino Magazine Picks, Kate & Quinn Picks, Ghetto Gastro Picks.

All were tempting, but I ended up taking a deeper dive into “Most Loved,” figuring it was the best-of-the-best option. I was greeted with this message: “Fill your basket full of love.”

Some things I found there: “Olaplex No.5 Bond Maintenance Conditioner” and “DEAYOKA Rose Quartz Gua Sha Tool – Asian Beauty Secret, for Facial Microcirculation/Removes Toxins/Prevents Wrinkles/Boost Radiance of Complexion – 100% Authentic & Genuine Rose Quartz” and “Facial Cleansing Brush by Olay Regenerist, Face Exfoliator with 2 Brush Heads.” As I always say, if you can’t love your bond maintenance conditioner, your gua sha tool or your facial cleansing brush, just what the heck can you love?

Point-of-sale displays for store brands at Lucky grocery stores say, “Quality You’ll Love” and “Love it or it’s on us.” Not to be outdone, Shinesty (proud purveyors of Ball Hammock Pouch Underwear) runs TV ads for underwear, promising, “Love your first pair or they’re 100% free.” These folks are actually guaranteeing love: putting their love where their mouths are, so to speak. What a breakthrough!

Of course, not just products but services are also marketed with reminders that we will or do love them. A TV ad for Chime tells us the service is “the # 1 most loved banking app.”

In bus ads, T-Mobile describes itself as the “most loved brand in wireless home service.” Comcast tells subscribers on its home page: “You’re getting the ultimate experience on our next-generation Xfinity 10G Network … Enjoy everything you love with fast, reliable connections.” It’s mind boggling. And heart-boggling too.

On a TV ad for a nationwide cell-phone service, beaming customers can’t wait to answer the question, “What do you love most about Consumer Cellular?” (This company deserves extra kudos for another TV ad in which one of its representatives holds up what looks like currency cut into a heart shape.)

Ten Thousand Villages is back in the game with another email subject line for customers, saying, “You’re going to love these,” referring to such “must haves” as table clothes, clothes hangers, rain gauges, “good luck pigs” soap, earrings, baskets and scarves.

The computer-security company Norton said in a recent email message to customers, “Here’s a special offer we know you’ll love.” The special offer was a 10-percent discount on a “computer tune up.” The stuff that dreams and love are made of.

Some merchants go beyond simply predicting we’ll love what they sell. Instead, they instruct us to love it.  Packages for Artisanal Pretzels by Eastern Standard Provisions Company, headquartered in Massachusetts, read, “Love every bite” and then, “… when it comes to snacking, we believe you should love every bite.” Gee, put that way, loving them is almost a moral imperative.

“Eat well. Laugh often. Love Mezzetta,” says a message on the bottom of lids for Mezzetta’s sun-ripened dried tomatoes.

“See the love” an ad for Bejamin Moore paints instructs us.

Trucks trundling Coca Cola across country say, “Love It Again and Again.”

“Come feel the love,” TV ads for Princess cruises say.

A bill from Bank of America orders us to: “Live your life. Love easy cash back.”

Falling in Love Again
In the old days, “falling in love” applied only to a romantic love for another person. But now that marketers have had a chance to work their magic, it can mean almost anything.

“Feels like falling in love on every aisle,” proclaims a Grocery Outlet truck.

A web service called Buzzfeed seems to churn out an endless supply of lists of products with which we will fall in love.

The first one I stumbled upon was titled, “35 Products You’ll Fall In Love With Right After The First Use.” The author started out by asking, “Did I fall in love with my Billie razor the first time I used it? Absolutely.” What greater credibility could I ask for?

The products included such gems as: seamless rib bike shorts “for a buttery soft addition to your daily routine”; Baker’s Edge, “a brownie pan to ensure each piece has at least two chewy edges, so fighting over the coveted end piece will become a thing of the past”; and a car dip clip “so you can drive WHILE dipping your nugs and fries, because it’s important to drive safe WHILE enjoying ketchup.”

And, again, there are companies that command us to fall in love with something, using imperative language.

A Los Angeles, California company called “Spread the Love” that makes peanut butter and other “nut spreads,” says “Fall in Love” at the top of its home page.

I recently got an unsolicited “notification” from the Sygic GPS Navigation service on my cell phone, directing me to “Open for the Sweet Deal and fall in love with Premium.” Who in their right minds could resist?

And again, Ten Thousand Villages is up to speed with an email subject line telling customers to “Fall in Love with handcrafted leather bags.”

It’s not just companies that get in on this action. A city in Northern California instructs people to “Fall in Love with Novato!”

No product is too obscure to demand our love. “Fall in love with Danish chocolate coated licorice,” says an ad on Amazon.com for a company called Lakrids by Bulow.

They Love Us. They Really Love Us.
Tons of organizations say they love us. So, when we buy from them, we’re pretty much buying love.

“One Well Loves You” proclaims a sign for One Well beer in Kalamazoo, Michigan. A sticker next to a cash register at a bagel store in Berkeley, California says, “We Love Our Customers.” It’s unclear if the message is supposed to come from American Express, which has its logo on the sticker, or from the store itself. Either way, it’s the thought that counts. And the feeling.

A business that sells Korean-style BBQ sauces online actually calls itself, “We Love You.”

Some organizations also ask for us to love them or their products or services in a reciprocal “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” relationship.

An ad for Xfinity makes the connection pretty obvious, saying, “Love Your Home Network and It’ll Love You Back.”

Referring to its product “Love Sticks,” California’s Judy’s Breadsticks company says, “This isn’t bread, it’s therapy … Taste the magic…You’ll Love Them and We Will Love U!!”

The grand prize when it comes to loving companies has to go to Aspen Dental which says in its TV ads that it is “loving our patients unconditionally.” Sheer genius.

Whole Lot of Lovin’ Goin’ On
Some companies push the envelope when it comes to using the language of love. Sometimes their enthusiasm for love reaches an almost orgiastic state where it’s difficult to figure out exactly what they’re saying. But it’s all good. This kind of Dionysian ecstasy is where a lot of the world’s poetry is born. It just means the companies’ hearts are in the right place.

Here are a few uberenthusiasts that really caught my attention. I want to give each a big, beautiful, glitter-covered, heart-shaped award for going the extra mile when it comes to love.

The website for Harry Winston Inc., headquartered in New York City oozes love. It leads off with the headline, “Winston With Love,” and increases the voltage from there, saying, “This exceptional fine jewelry collection chronicles the extraordinary phases of love with diamonds and colorful gemstones. Like an acrostic poem, each letter represents a different phase of love, from the first light of affection, to a passionate obsession, to the ultimate vow and an eternity together. With each phase, the feelings of love grow stronger and more meaningful. This gemstone jewelry collection offers a modern interpretation of the signature Harry Winston aesthetic and consists of 39 pieces separated into 4 unique chapters: L ─ Winston Light, O ─ Winston Obsession, V ─ Winston Vow, and E ─ Winston Eternal. Discover all of love’s magnificent possibilities in this exceptional collection of gemstone rings, earrings, and necklaces.”

Los Angeles, California company GT’s Living Foods LLC, has this to say online:

“Love knows no color, gender, race, or boundaries. It warms us up on a cold Winter’s day and radiates beauty from within. Our Kombucha is our greatest gift of love, and we’re honored to share it with the world.”

Under the heading “Express Your Love,” the company says, “Post a selfie with any @GTsKombucha bottle and someone you love using #GTsPureLove. Each month, GT’s is gifting one winner a special weekend getaway to share with their loved one.”

The web site for a company called Scentsy, based in Meridian, Idaho, says: “We’re completely in love with fragrance — and how it makes life better. Share the Scentsy love with inspiring fragrances and new ways to show off your style. Our products are sold all over the world by the best people ever: Scentsy Consultants. (You can be one, if you want.)” It also says, “Shipped with love.”  Although that last part probably goes without saying.

Lovelight Solutions, based in San Francisco,

is “a professional, experienced, and values-based contractor, supplier, and consultant specializing in developing turn-key lighting efficiency projects for commercial and multi-family properties.” What a mouthful. A mouthful of love, that is. The first four characters for the company’s phone number spell out LOVE. Its website says, “We strive to integrate our values of LIGHT into our work: Love, Integrity, Generosity, Hope, & Tenacity.” Its logo is … you guessed it … two light bulbs intersecting in such a way that they look vaguely like a heart. Adorable.

What’s Not to Love About Love?
Even if the word “Love” or “Luv” doesn’t appear in marketing materials, and even if the business or product or service doesn’t have any clear conceptual association with love, you can almost always find at least a heart symbol on their signs. A short list includes the online store Etsy, CVS pharmacies, Pampers disposable diapers, Burlington coats, Polk speakers, General Mills foods, Aetna insurance and Polly Pocket dolls and toys.

The practice has almost become obligatory as a sign of corporate good will. One can’t help being suspicious of a company that doesn’t wear its heart on its sleeve, in the same way that one has good reason to be suspicious of people who won’t wear American flag pins, take loyalty oaths or say prayers in public schools.

I optimistically look forward to the day when the word “love” or its graphic equivalent will be prominently displayed in every ad, email message, billboard, package, receipt, bill and website and will be repeated there many times.

To me, it’s indisputable that the way love has enfolded marketing in a great big bearhug is a good thing. A very good thing. It offers me hope for the future. It means that something just as important as money is moving business now. And love is only one part of this transformational trend. The same forward movement is happening with joy, pride, passion, unity, community and respect. Yes. Things are looking up.

Some social naysayers complain that love has been commercialized, commodified. Well, all I can say to such party poopers is, “If this is what commercialization looks like, then give me a double helping of it.” Of course, I’m not some overly educated East Coast leftwing secular-humanist elitist. I’m just a regular person who happens to be brimming over with love.

“Glass is half empty” haters suggest that the increase in the use of the word “love” for more and more applications has led to a kind of verbal “inflation,” in which the value of the word goes down as the frequency of its use goes up. If we followed that line of reasoning, we’d soon be trying to put limits on all the good things in the world: sunshine, sports spectaculars, ice-cream sundaes.

What those negativists don’t get is that this is not just a love-love situation. It’s a love-love-love-to-the-degree-of infinity situation. Everyone wins. It’s synergy at its best.

I’m so grateful I live in a society where I can eat, sleep and drink love. Be clothed by love. Brush my teeth with it. Long gone are the days when love was narrowly reserved just for a few special people or God or Country. Today love is a universal commodity. It’s for everything and everyone. What could be better?

So, come on. Dig out your wallet and join me in a rousing chorus for our new anthem as we go marching starry-eyed into a brighter future. O.K. Here we go. All together now: “All you need is love. All you need is love. All you need is love. To make a sale!”