Organisers explain insights behind the funeral-themed flower bouquets

As Valentine’s Day is approaching, "Full Stop Tour”, a funeral-practitioner trio formed by three Hong Kong Facebook page hosts, has partnered with Kowloon Funeral Parlour to roll out a funeral version of flower bouquets for love birds.  

The campaign, which is set to roll out on 14 February 2024, rides on the existence and authenticity of "until death do us part", aiming to invite reflection on the meaning of deep, true love, and to break the taboo of ‘death’, according to a statement on one of the hosts’ Facebook page, “Coffin Boy” (賣棺材的男孩). 

Titled “Till death do us part”, the campaign features flower bouquets consisting of nine red roses, symbolising the eternity of love; the middle one is a white rose commonly used in funeral homes, which represents the final moment of life. The entire flower bouquet now costs HK$1,280. 

However, the initiative has drawn mixed reactions from netizens. Media intelligence firm CARMA saw approximately 200 media mentions over the past week, with 26% positive and 8% negative sentiments.

Many found the campaign intriguing, suggesting that its purpose was to generate interest rather than to generate profits, as it is related to a topic that is considered taboo and may not be widely accepted, said Charles Cheung, CARMA’s HK GM. 

“Conversely, the negative sentiments were mainly expressed by the ones who believed that the product's price point was excessively high for an item that their valentines may not be so pleased to receive,” he added. 

Meanwhile, social monitoring firm Meltwater saw a total number of 24 mentions across social platforms, with 20.8% negative sentiments and 4.3% positive sentiments. Keywords associated with the campaign include "reflection on Valentine's Day", "no thanks" (不了) and "daring romantic gesture".

A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw on Coffin Boy's Facebook page the post garner 1.3k likes, 147 comments and 197 shares, with many praising the creative approach to express love to loved ones, while some said the organisers need to consider whether the receivers of the flowers are open to the concept as "death" is still a taboo word around Chinese New Year. 

Addressing the confusion that consumers and readers might have, a spokesperson from “Full Stop Tour” told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE during an interview, that Valentine's Day is the time to show undying love in whatever form it takes — bouquets or paper flowers, delivered by trucks or hearses.  

Through this innovative campaign, the organisers hope valentines can send their best wishes to their loved ones, living or dead. “There is a Chinese saying to summarise our ideas - When the flowers are in bloom, they need to be cut off. Don’t wait until there are no flowers left. (花開堪折直須折，莫待無花空折枝),” 

The idea of the campaign came from the trio’s observations of some people tending to believe that florists within the funeral parlour area only take orders for funerals. 

“The fact is those shops do a lot of flower bouquets, flower wreaths for anniversary and Valentine’s Day, even for the celebration of successful concerts in Hong Kong Coliseum. We all experience life and death and know how fragile life could be, especially after the pandemic,” the spokesperson said.  

Hence, we tend to break the taboo and invite people to show their love whenever and in any forms, they want to.

The campaign is not for profit-making, but for the propagation of ideas, said the spokesperson. "In fact, the market price of our flower bouquet is not outstanding, considering the rising costs during Chinese New Year. The price of the flower bouquet delivery service mainly goes to cost deduction and the charity donation."

When it comes to the purpose of setting up this trio, the spokesperson said this aims to discuss Hong Kong funeral arrangements with the public and to open up the infinite possibilities of funeral arrangements in Hong Kong. 

“We start to provide guided tours and collaborate with different NGOs and organisations to introduce the funeral-planning process in Hong Kong. That was when we met Kowloon Funeral Parlour, our like-minded partner. We talked about this idea, and they are very supportive of this campaign.” 

On the other hand, Kowloon Funeral Parlour said in a statement on Facebook that modern love is actually very casual. "People come and go. Perhaps it is due to cultural changes, perhaps it is the influence of social diversity, but we have to admit that romantic relationships in the modern society is very common."

"But for the funeral industry, we encounter more situations where the wife passed away first, the old couple died front and back, and there are even cases where the couple died at the same time. These 'until death do us part' stories make people reflect: 'Maybe this is true love.' Inspired by this, Kowloon Funeral Parlour and "The End of the World" decided to offer a different experience for love birds this year."

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Kowloon Funeral Parlour for a statement.  

(Photo courtesy: Coffin Boy's Facebook)

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