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Valentine's Day came to Japan as the result of commercial marketing initiatives in the 1960s. This day quickly became an occasion on which women give gifts of chocolate to men. Within less than a decade, women in the workplace and in university classes had begun to give small chocolate gifts to all their male colleagues and friends to avoid any apparent favouritism. Men for their part showed little interest in buying Valentine's gifts for women and soon the marketers captured the opportunity to create White Day on 14 March, a day now designated for men to buy white chocolate for women friends and colleagues. The romantic side of these gifts has long been displaced by the sense of gift-giving obligation. The exchange of Valentine's and White Day gifts is far less frequent between married couples, although a man or woman might still buy the expected chocolates for work colleagues years after they stop bringing home a gift for their spouse.