Gift Card fine print

A co-worker of mine got an American Express gift card as a door prize. Turns out the gift card had a $4 "activation fee." People buy a $25 gift card assuming it's a $25 gift, but it's actually as much a gift to the company on the card !

In the social sense, "just writing a check" was seen as a lazy gift, "what, you can't even take the time to think about what this person would like, and SHOP for it ?" Somehow gift cards got positioned (read MARKETED) as a solution... less tacky than a check, can't be used to buy drugs, and hey, I still went SHOPPING, I just couldn't find the right thing.

Let's reposition the gift card as something that sends the message, "Hey, I couldn't trust you with cash, because you'd just waste it or spend it on drugs, and I'd rather give more of my money to some giant corporation instead of you !"