SEVEN THINGS YOU CAN DO TO LEAD A GREENER LIFE
Ever received a Useless Gift? Let’s face it, most of us have at some point in the past. So we thought we’d shine a little sunlight on this issue to understand the extent of the problem.
Why does it matter? Well waste is … err, a waste – and that includes Useless Gifts, regardless of how well meant they were. Making stuff uses energy that causes CO2 and uses precious resources which we can't afford to waste; and, when you’re bought stuff and it doesn’t get used or gets thrown away it’s also a waste.
Our survey asked Green Thing members if they’d ever received an utterly useless and pointless gift, if so – what was it and who was it from, and lastly would they rather get nothing than a pointless present this Christmas. The word-cloud above shows the most common responses.
So what did we learn? Well firstly that a staggering 97% of people have been given an utterly useless and pointless gift.
Then we had the joy and horror of reading about what you’d been given. Well, here it is. Your Top Ten most useless, pointless and utterly ridiculous gifts.
OUR TOP 10 PICK OF USELESS GIFTS
1. B-Movie Horror Victims
"Last Christmas I received 6 model 'B-Movie Horror victims' in a box. Of course I had to act surprised, overjoyed and thank them kindly for their generosity. But they are totally pointless and don't even look very nice. I don't even collect figurines! I still have them in their original box sitting on my bedroom floor as I cant bear to throw them away but equally I cant bear to get them out the box. I'm waiting to find the right person to give them to or they'll end up in a charity shop sooner or later."
2. A Wind-up Granny racing set.
"Dad bought it for me when I was 22...Why useless? It's a wind-up-granny-racing-set."
3. A Pop-up Toaster
"It is an orange, see-through plastic, mini "toaster" with a yellow plastic pen attached and a pad of "toast" shaped paper that slots inside and supposedly pops up when you press the lever on the side. I think it was probably from Firebox or IWOOT. Why is it useless? Because it holds paper for notes (why do you need it held upright?) to scribble on (use waste paper...), the pen doesn't work and is too small to use comfortably, and the paper doesn't even pop-up! Useless plastic- ready for landfill."
4. A popcorn machine in the shape of a trolley.
"First I don't eat popcorn, and making them at home is simply a nightmare. Such a huge device requiring also so much cleaning after use."
5. A ceramic model of a cottage
"It was a ceramic model of a cottage, the type that strange/old people collect in large numbers for unfathomable reasons."
6. A "Choke the Chicken"
""Choke The Chicken" - A toy Chicken, sat on a chicken shack, and when you rang its neck, it squarked like a chicken.
Useless and totally unfunny."
7. A willy warmer
"Why useless? I'm a girl!!"
8. A Jesus dashboard icon
"It was a figure of Jesus on a spring for the dash board of my car. The only purpose it served was to make my girlfriend laugh as the vibrating jesus shook his stuff everytime my old slug-like desiel stopped at lights."
9. A banana case
"It was a bananna case.
It was a different size from my bananas and would not fit inot a packed lunch box and meant I had to carry it about after I finished my banana.
It was funny."
10. A superhero desk mascot
"Stupid desk mascot: superman body with my photo where its head should've been."
We also asked – so who gave you these oh so precious items? And here are the results.
So it seems that perhaps those distant relatives would do a lot better by either not bothering or passing on a gift card or cash.
And lastly, we asked, "would you rather get nothing than a pointless present this Christmas?". While 86% of people agreed, a staggering 14% did not … which either shows we’re going to find it really hard to kick this insane gift behaviour or that the question was little hard to understand. We really hope it's the latter.
Tell us about the most #uselessgift you ever got in the comments below or on Twitter.
view this