I am probably part of this problem - an enabler, so to say. I was hosted a nice lady with a house full of duck themed things (this was in southern England, probably not the same lol), and left her two (rather cute) duck-themed things when I moved assuming that she'd like those.

She was unequivocally happy when I did, but perhaps it was just because of the gesture.

(EDIT: also, the rooster/horse/duck example of feedback loop would make for a terrific blog post)