G. Wong offered the following
Some words and phrases are blithely used in the local media without
a second thought as to their sensibilities.Free gift: a gift is free by definition Pool of blood: as in “The man was lying in a pool of
blood”.Action…. against: a catch-all term to mean punishment without
saying much. Sometimes the paper, radio or TV stations will proffer
the details but often won’t, leaving us to read between the lines.
eg “Action will be taken against Anwar Ibrahim.”Nabbed & transparency: as in detained, and public accountability
_ the latter often used in govt.-speak to urge agencies or businesses
to be more transparent.Percentages: often misused when percentage points up or down
are meant. Telekom Malaysia’s pre-tax profit was down 12 percentage
points from 48 percent. Hardly the same as a 12 percent reduction.
A gift is free by definition. However prefixing by ‘free’ is not done without reason.
In most advertisements copy is written to grab the readers attention, keep it and move them to action.
There are many magic words which readers are physcologically drawn to, one of which is ‘free’
In your example ‘Free Gift’ it is the ‘free’ which is the key. What follows is probably unimportant.