Match.com to Unveil Worlds Biggest Chocolate Heart

(onlinedatingmagazine.com - February 5, 2004) Match.com is set to build and unveil a 7-metric-ton chocolate heart for Valentine's Day in Madrid, Spain, next week. The 7-metric-ton heart (15,400 pounds) will be unveiled at a press conference in the city center of Madrid in the Paseo de la Castellana at the level of the Plaza Colon on Friday, February 13 at 11 am Madrid time. After its unveiling, the heart will be on display through Thursday, February 19. The Match.com chocolate heart is expected to break the current world record, according to Guinness World Records, held by Jose Rafael Palermo, who built a five-ton chocolate model of a house in Cordoba, Argentina in 1997.

Construction of the Match.com heart will begin in Madrid on Monday, February 9 by a team of ten people under the direction of local chocolate artist Luis Morreiro. The chocolate heart will measure approx. 4 meters (13 feet) high, 5 meters (16 1/2 feet) wide and .7 meters (2 feet) thick at the largest point. The chocolate, specially produced by Chocovic, a Catalan chocolate producer, will be 45% cacao, an especially rich chocolate.

"Match.com's record breaking chocolate heart is really a celebration of dating, romance and love, not to mention the purported aphrodisiac qualities of chocolate, just in time for Valentine's Day," said Trish McDermott, Match.com's Vice President of Romance and resident dating expert. "Like online dating, Valentine's Day, often with chocolate and roses as part of the celebration, has become part of the culture of romance and love in many countries around the world today."

Love, Romance and Chemistry in the U.S. and Europe In a survey of more than 3,500 singles from the United States, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Germany, Match.com learned that:

* Singles in the English speaking countries were most likely to say that a similar sense of humor was something that made their last relationship click. Singles in Spain, France, Sweden and Germany were most likely to say that great communication made their last relationship click.

* Singles in the U.S. were more likely than singles in the other countries surveyed to cite "tremendous mutual sex appeal" as something that made their last relationship click.

* American singles were the least likely to say they believe in love at first site, with only 67% reporting this, while French and Spanish singles were the most likely, with 83% indicating this.

* German singles were the most likely to describe chemistry as an emotional feeling, while French singles were the most likely to describe it as a spiritual feeling. American singles were more likely to select "other" and elect to describe chemistry in their own words than were singles in any other country surveyed.

* Spanish singles, followed closely by American singles, were the most likely to say that if they could they would scientifically analyze their compatibility with someone prior to meeting them. German singles were the least likely to say they would do this.

* American singles were the most likely to say they would like the opportunity to get to know someone in advance of actually meeting or dating them.