Seems like a niche initiative to use right wing, working class idols to promote socialist ideals. My guess is the intent is the target market is more likely to read the meme and view it in a positive manner when paired with someone they respect instead of, say, Einstein or MLK Jr.
If you are in the US, gift cards are required to be valid for at least 5 years (federal rule) and many states have longer rules. Also some states require unspent money to be paid back to the card holder as cash. There was a thread a couple of days ago on Lemmy all about gift cards and relevant consumer protections.
Yeah it’s nuts. However there are a huge number of open-access journals, and they are becoming more common. BMC/PLOS are the big ones in my field (biology/genetics).
PLOS still charges a fee if your institution is not part of their “network”, and it’s not cheap, but their articles are free for all to access.