I also seem to recall a lot of dislike in the news post, mostly related to the concept that it was being spun as something new and unique and awesome, but they were really nothing special, and if you wanted, you could just copy the image and use it as an icon or something. (I always saw them as a little like the fundraising flowers/candy sold around holidays in a lot of US schools -- you can get it cheaper somewhere else, but it's to support whatever school organization, and there's a certain amount of status in being seen to receive them.)

After the major parts of the grumbling died down, the Support crew started playing around with them some. The current use in Support is a little like greeting cards -- reach a milestone? Get vgifts from your friends. Have a birthday? Vgifts. See someone do something awesome? Vgifts. See someone do something that deserves a certain amount of public teasing? Vgifts. (Say, if someone broke the build...) There is a significant overlap between Support and Support's larger circle of non-Support friends, and the group that would have been exposed to the original poll.