Gifts are rarely just gifts, they’re weighted with myriad meanings, expressions of the relationship between the giver and receiver. Of course, it’s perfectly possible that the exchange is about giving something nice and thoughtful that makes them happy, but more often, and particularly at Christmas, it’s about dominance, manipulation, and outright sadism. The giver has assessed the receiver, judged what they sorely lack in life, and then aims to plug that gaping wound with a badly wrapped trinket.
As such, almost any gift could have negative connotations, particularly in our trigger-happy times (“Diamonds? So…you’re saying I’m not valuable enough just as me.”), but there are also some presents that stand-alone as masterfully passive-aggressive gifts, that casually appear nice whilst carrying all kinds of nasty. Buy them for someone you ostensibly love.
