THE DARK SIDE OF THE GIFT

Probing of the semiotic significance of gift exchange behaviors has re cently been resumed. The symbolic exchange value of the gift is especi ally amenable to investigation via ethnographic methods and projective techniques. In this paper, negativity and ambivalence in gift exchang e, a theme derived from a comparative ethnographic study of two midwes tern American gift stores, are refined and elaborated through projecti ve analysis. What emerges is a more balanced and comprehensive account of gift giving than presently available in the literature of consumer -object relations. Gift giving and receiving engender high levels of a nxiety among consumers. Gifts create and exacerbate interpersonal conf lict. They are frequently used as weapons, and consumers' responses to them are carefully canalized. The ways in which negativity is managed by donors and recipients are examined. Consumers, victims of sentimen t and symbolism, are found to be entrapped in rituals and enjoined by cultural ideology from expressing discontent in most ways except fanta sy. The impact of such fantasy on gift giving, and its relevance for m arketers, is explored in this article.