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Oscar 'losers' will go home with $45,000 gift bags
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- Oscar nominees who don't end up with a coveted gold
statuette on Sunday won't go home empty handed after all.
Los Angeles-based marketing firm Distinctive Assets will be handing out its
annual "Everyone Wins at the Oscars Nominee Gift Bag," valued at more than
$45,000, to the talented and well-dressed "losers," the company said on
Tuesday.
Among the items in the gift bags, known as swag bags, are trips to Australia,
Hawaii and Mexico, personal training sessions, condoms, a bottle of tequila,
hand-illustrated tennis shoes, appointments for injectable fillers and
"portion-controlled" dinnerware for those watching their figure, Distinctive
Assets said in a statement.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars,
stopped its practice of giving gift baskets to presenters and performers in 2007
after the practice came under closer scrutiny from tax authorities.
Celebrities who receive gifts and free trips at awards shows are expected to
declare them to the Inland Revenue Service as income and pay the appropriate
taxes.
The Distinctive Assets gift bag is not endorsed by the Oscars, but has been
creating consolation goodie bags for 11 years now. The bags are delivered to the
losing nominees to their homes directly or through their agents or
publicists.
This year's "Not Everyone Wins ..." swag bag also includes an
under-the-counter water filtration system, acupuncture and aromatherapy
sessions, a one-week stay at a fitness and weight-loss retreat and a one-year
membership to London's Heathrow Airport's private VIP service.
Nominees' children also benefit: They get to enroll in professional all-kid
circus classes.
The Oscars, the highest honors in the movie business, will be handed out a
ceremony on Sunday in Hollywood, Calif.
This is absolutely ridiculous. These bags are worth more than what some people make in a year!!! The only reason these stars make the money they do make, is because the people who don't make $45,000 a year go for a treat to see a movie! What has this world come to???? Stars making millions to shoot a movie, athletes making in the millions - while there are millions of people in Canada and the United States starving or just making ends meet. It is ludicrous!!!! No individual should be paid the amount that this big movie stars and athletes make. Something needs to happen because in the years to come there will only be the "Rich" and the "Poor"! Why don't the stars just tell them to donate $45,000 for each bag to varioius charities - that way at least someone would be ahead of the game - it certainly isn't the stars who think of $45,000 as "chump" change!!!!!
I'm thinking that some of the documentary and short film nominees could probably use 45 grand in cash. As for the ones who've already made it, I don't think they'd really care for gift bags to begin with.
We all like the little gift bags and door prizes we (the general public) get at functions and golf tourneys, even though it may just be a pack of 3 golf balls or some candle holders. The higher up you are (in the income bracket) I guess you need more goodies to get your attention.
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