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Adrees Latif / Reuters
Even if Jennifer Lawrence doesn't bring home an Oscar on Sunday, she'll still get to keep a $47,802 goodie bag.
A gold statue is nice, but Hollywood A-listers nominated for Oscars will get a consolation prize even if they don’t win: a $47,802 goodie bag.
That’s about the same as the MSRP for an entry-level Mercedes Benz M class (and it’s within shouting distance of America’s 2011 median household income of $50,054). Still, it’s the least-expensive this gift bag has been in five years; in 2010, Oscar swag topped $90,000.
“I am confident that having a $48,000 gift bag vs. a $58,000 gift bag will go unnoticed by Amy Adams, Hugh Jackman and Jennifer Lawrence,” Lash Fary, founder of marketing firm Distinctive Assets, which has put together the "Everyone Wins at the Oscars®" gift bag for the past 11 years, said via email.
There’s still plenty of swag that evokes the typical A-list lifestyle: a $4,100 weeklong weight-loss retreat, $406 hand cream, a $795 water filtration device and and $1,800 pass to the VIP club at London's Heathrow airport.
Others are quirkier and cheaper, albeit more practical, like a $19.99 clothing de-fuzzer and a $3.99 cleaning product from Windex. There is even a six-pack of condoms valued at $20.
Fary said a smaller number of big-ticket vacation packages contributed to the lower overall value of this year’s gift bag. “This year, we had more physical items than in past years. The past couple years we included more trips and gift certificates and decided to scale that back a bit this year,” he said. “Redeeming 12 trips in one year is difficult for anyone … let alone a busy celebrity.”
There are still some trips included in this year’s gift bag, including a choice of one of two $12,000 Australian vacations either on the Great Barrier Reef or in the Outback. There’s also a $7,400 gift certificate for interior decorating services, among others.
The appeal for companies is that they’ll score publicity if a red-carpet fixture like Robert De Niro or Sally Field uses, eats or wears their offering. This exposure is invaluable, which makes Academy Awards swag big business.
“Part of the good news about all the attention we receive during Oscar week is that we get a lot of last-minute inquiries about being added to the bags, and sometimes the company is able to mobilize to make it happen,” Fary said. Companies pay between $4,000 and $20,000 to participate, not including the cost of the items they donate.
In addition to the “Everyone Wins” gift bag, there are gifting suites like the GBK Luxury Gift Lounge and the Oscar Celebrity Gifting Suite, not to be confused with Connected's Pre-Oscar Celebrity Gifting Suite.
Courtenay Madsen, owner of jewelry start-up Courtenay J Designs, spent about $1,250 to contribute 100 hand-stamped, sterling silver and copper necklaces for the GBK Luxury Gift Lounge, which totaled about a third of her annual marketing budget.
“The cost was definitely a factor,” she said. “I had to watch every single penny.”
Madsen said she’s hoping for payoff in the form of a celebrity shout-out on Twitter, which could help grow her wholesale business. “A lot of times the actor’s fan base will click on your information,” she said. “You have a little bit more credibility... other people start to take notice.”
“It takes quite a lot of work and time and effort to make it happen,” said Julian Harrison, president of Premier Tours, which donated a $45,000 African safari to the “Everybody Wins” gift bag in 2010 and had participated for the past four years. His company isn’t giving away a trip this year, but he said, “More than likely, we will be back next year.”
The $45,000 consolation prize "swag bag" should ease the pain for losing nominees. Contents include a $12,000 vacation to Australia, a $5,000 "vampire facelift," and a five-day stay on the south shore of Kauai in Hawaii. Losers can also choose one week at a luxury weight loss retreat or a bottle of Bonita Platinum tequila.
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Conspicuous consumption, anyone?......this is the entitlement attitude of the top 1% in full psycho mode and before they have to return their loaner baubles back to Harry Winston.....but don't worry... they are very concerned about all you little people....we know this, because they told us......
How will they survive????
It's going to be tough man, they have some hard times ahead of them. I know everyone is just scraping by in this economy but please just skip one meal a week or sacrifice that day care for your kid, donate to these celebrities in need so they can maintain the lifestyle of receiving bling, beauty products, and cosmetic surgery for free. Thank you.
So sorry darling that you did not win, enjoy your $406 worth of hand lotion, we would have put in Vasoline but far too primative and the media and all, Ta Ta...
I m sure the celebs are in shock and feel damn near homeless at this point.
So are they issued a 1099 for tax purposes?
I am sure they will get a 1099 for it, its the IRS rules, but then again, they could donate it and get the write off. Must be nice eh?
This is obscene on so many levels. These "celebrities" are paid far more than their contribution to society will ever be, and then, in addition, are given a gift basket that is worth more than the income of many people in this country who contribute so much more. What is even worse is that there are so many "little people" who actually buy products based on the whims of their favorite stars. For example, how can anyone be so pathetic that they pay any attention whatsoever to what Beyonce recommends rather than forming their own opinions? This country is in a sad state and is only going to continue to decline due to the ignorance of its citizens.
Not surprised at the cut, Money isn't flowing so great because the rich have to pay more taxes.
How many of these liberal Hollywood types don't live in California but talk about paying their fair share.
Guarantee you many live in FL and other places without state taxes.
Hypocrites to the max.
And, do they PAY their taxes on such items, is the goody bag an income?
So, they get a goodie bag that has almost as much value as my LABOR for a year? A "goodie bag" that they will probably toss aside and complain about? I feel sick.
Some of the stuff has such a inflated price tag that it is not even worth the cost they will have to pay in income tax
Hollywood land of libs!! yet they get 47k in goodies just for showing up ONE night!! Most people don't make that in one year!
I wish Hollywood would just shut up they are nothing but a bunch of jerks
a bunch of overvalued crap that will be regifted repeatedly.
Sitting here LMAO. I don't watch their crappy movies. I don't buy their garbage magazines or their designer ... whatever. I really couldn't care less if any Celebrity would fall off into the Pacific Ocean. So let them have their little bags that are paid for by people who think the Kardashians are important. Doesn't bother me one iota.
Just when I thought I'd about heard everything . . . Conspicuous consumption as a post above stated so well. Amazing these sorts of things go on in a world where so many are hurting so much.
I don't have any answers. Why the entertainment, music and sports industries have such seemingly overpaid people working to entertain us, play us music and play ball while we watch. We pay the ticket prices for these shows. Without us, the little people, that camp would be closer to normal incomes and lives I suppose.
Time for the OWS folks to hit the Red Carpet.
Heya Mr. "Drama" Obama, how about "targeting" Bollywood for some TAXES ? Better hit em with TAXES before they start their Exodus to other countries. Oooops, missed some already.
Although agreeing with most above sentiments, you do realize that the authors more or less got exactly the responses they hoped for when penning this, don't you?
As a society, we've allowed this to be and relish it; for whatever reason famous, person A through ZZZZZZ wouldn't be given or paid what they are if it weren't for the majority approving of holding them up on their varied pedestals.
Sure, many of us rightly so can enumerate in great lengths the reasons it's beyond common sense, how luck is involved as many of us commoners may be more talented, more worthy, more capable at the different crafts... so many will never be heard or given a chance. Hence, 'fair' doesn't come into play. However, can any really blame those in the limelight for taking all that comes their way, as much as is possible?
We collectively, again, have given this our blessing or else it wouldn't be. QB's being paid millions of dollars, BB 'heroes' making more endorsing shoes than putting in hoops, Hollywood and music arenas..... we've only our fellow Americans to blame.
Disproportionate amongst hundreds of other adjectively descriptive truths come to mind, but if 'we' didn't buy into it, if it didn't work for them, it wouldn't be done and they wouldn't be doing it. Period.
A great number of people I know agree that apathy and distraction are one of our number one greater threats in getting back reality in economy and really American common sense, values and integrity.
This is why I wouldn't waste energy dissing on those that expect such gifts and followings, grossly over inflated earnings.... spend time trying to change the fact that it is accepted, it is wanted, it does work, and things more along these lines.
They shouldn't get that much, this industry has had an original idea in years. They do poor overproduced remakes of Movies that we all like already, they ride the shirt tail of a legacy IE DIE Hard or we get yet another Comic Book Hero movie.. YUCK!
Beyond the tax question I'd like to know.
These companies do it to get advertising but believe me our tax money is in every one of those "gifts" because along with the direct tax advantages that the rich and their corporations get there is all so the unseen subsidies that we give their employees at the bottom of the ladder because they are not paid a living wage.
man would great to be a star (rock star, movie star, sports star...it don't matter)...have the people be your slaves....hahahahaha....classic
i shall grab myself a big mac meal and watch the oscars and perhaps a little vodka on ice see all the materialism and bs speeches being made ....lol
peace people...and dream a little happiness :)
My favorites are when the thank God or Jesus for giving them more than they need and so much more than the people who watch them and worship them have. God bless them.. :(
Hollyweird can give Obama and the Dems a big shout out for the cheap bags this year. Times are tough all over...............................and gonna get worse!
Right, great, let's just turn EVERYTHING into Obama's fault...
Come on, my fellow Americans! Pick yourselves up and take responsibility for your own actions. Forget the President. Forget Congress. Stop laying blame on the POTUS, the federal government and the state as a cop-out, already! Push them aside and look out for yourselves, as you know damned well we are capable of doing it without government interference!
No way Jose`, I blame the Kenyan every day and will continue to do so until he is , Impeached, Jailed for Treason or voluntarily resigns and goes back home to Kenya.
Well, then, I pity you for your shortsightedness and lack of faith in yourself as an American to overcome any obstacle... even when it comes to the obstacles in your own country.
Keep playing the blame game. Keep complaining and deluding yourself into thinking that one man at the top of the power chain is responsible. Keep laboring under the delusion that taking him out of power will solve everything. Then look at all the decades of mismanagement that have gone on and continue to go on thanks to everyone from lobbyists to congressmen to mayors... it'll give you a whole new range of blame-game excuses and parties to go after.
LOL!!!! Clflan2-1, thanks for once again proving how uneducated and flat out stupid you Obama haters are. Charge Obama with Treason because he's from Kenya? Do some research on the legal definition of Treason. If Obama is from Kenya, and not a U.S. Citizen, well guess what? Treason is a charge that can only be applied to citizens of the country prosecuting them. You are so dumb, proof is in the pudding.
Hollywood is Barry's base -- you know those EVIL greedy rich bastiges that he's always pounding his bully pulpit on. You libs are so hypocritical you can't even see that he's do as I say and not as I do. But I guess as long as you're getting your taxpayer funded goodie bag you could care less what happens to this country. He's bought and paid for you lapdogs through entitlements (read: enslavement), you must be sooooooooo proud of your ignorance and lack of education.
Please Dotties girl, enlighten StandUpJokeOff and myself on our ignorance. Neither of us defended the celebrities and their attitudes, in fact read up above just a little bit and you'll see I am criticizing them. I pointed out clflan2-1's ignorance with facts and specifics, waiting for yours. I'm thinking your factual base is as robust as "I disagree."
clflan and dottie's girl....you've had you say, now crawl back into your holes or compounds and leave the sane people alone. Go on now....good boys and girls.
I like to agree that picking ourselves up and dusting ourselves off is the solution. I just wish the government would stop getting in our way everytime we turn around. Smaller government and more civil liberties would allow this but if we "forget" the government they sure as hell won't forget us... they have their hands in our pockets, their ear up to our doors and they have no problem pouncing on any one of us with any trumped up charge they can imagine if we get out of line.
StandUp - U R spot on
Brilliant...needed to be repeated.
clflan2-1 banned for racist remarks and derailing everywhere.
I would very much like someone to donate one of these swag bags to me. I am a single and thrifty person, and I know that I could sell it and--even with the inevitable loss of funds from the initial asking price of some of these items--live comfortably off that money for a minimum of three years.
I'm sure that I'm not alone in that sentiment, either. Certainly I see that as the better alternative to an impending bankruptcy (which I'm fighting tooth and nail not to do), or sucking off the government's teats for Social Security, welfare, unemployment or food stamps assistance (lifestyles which I'm also struggling not to get sucked in to).
You seriously don't want that. You'd wind up paying the taxes on $48,000 worth of stuff and you'd have to do a lot of quick selling to settle up on the tax bill. Besides, I don't know a lot of people in my neck of the woods who would be willing to pony up for a week at a California fat camp for the rich.
I'm in California. Trust me, people would be falling over themselves for that fat camp because "oh, it'll give me an opportunity to meet someone and pitch my script." This is the land of delusion.
Try being a comic because you just cracked me up :)
Give me almost $48,000 worth of goodies! I'll hock it, pay off some bills, asnd bank the rest of it. I might even have enough to go see one of their overpriced movies.
If there's one comes out tha is worth the time to to to.
Well they aren't making a lot of money off me and my friends. We only go to the $5 movies at AMC and we don't buy any outrageously priced food at the theater.
Boy, is this country out of whack!
that's GO to. Sorry, Just washed my hands and can't do anything with them.
Better yet, skip the movie theater entirely and borrow the DVD from you local library for free.
I sure hope those liberal dirt bags are paying taxes on all those gifts
Common - what makes you say they are all liberals? I seem to recall at least one of them pitching for Mitt a few months back.
Oh_no...you are right. Maybe it should have read a majority of the Hollywood types (and don't forget to include the media) are in the very liberal camp.
Amen, Dawn! If only all the celebrities receiving these bags would do the same thing and then donate that money to charity to actually do some good.
the celebs "talk" a good game about helping the "less fortunate" and charities but in reality it's all about them. I don't go to ANY movies, I rent from Redbox and even then I'm careful about what actors are in them -- I don't support their phoniness anymore than I support Barry's -- and don't forget those elites are the money raisers and biggest azzkissers of this admin. You know the awful rich that aren't paying their fair share! bbbbbwwwwaaaaahhhhaahahaha Bubbleheads.
Now Dottie, you and I both know that the "evil rich that don't pay their fair share" only applies to business people aka CEO types. It's OK for actors, musicians and sports players to not pay their fair share.
What a crock. How will they survive on that pittance? Maybe we could sign them up for welfare.
Sinful. They should all be embarrassed.
Why should they be embarrassed johnny? You should be embarrassed for being a jealous hater.
Wow. That"swag" bag is worth more than what many make in a year's work!
But don't tax them more.
Lights, action, free stuff!!!
So the aleady rich folks get a "goodie bag" worth almost 50k? WTF do they need it for? That money could go a LONG way if the "Oscar Noms" would just have the money donated to some good charity. Just wondering how stupid rich people are if they spend that kind of cash on hand cream? lol.
The money will go a long way into the economy by paying the manufacturers, distributors and employees of all the companies that provide this overpriced crap. Not to mention, the starts will have to pay over 50% federal and state income tax on the stated 47K value of the bags.
Aren't these the same libs that want our Government to share the wealth? They should practice what they preach and give that stuff away.
This "cheap" goody bag is worth more than many people working one, two and three jobs make in a year...folks who struggle to put food on the table or who must choose between having health insurance or paying a mortgage. The Oscars are nothing but an ass-kissing contest between rich, arrogant, pompous fools and the even richer, more arrogant, pompous movie moguls. Let them exchange their congrats and false sense of accomplishment amongst themselves. I, for one, will not be watching this gross opulent snooze fest.
Think how many hungry children this could feed. This is despicable. Hollywood should be ashamed!
MONEY GOES TO MONEY!!!!! Sorry for you little people, sucks to be us.
I can't be there to accept my Oscar, so just ship my goodie bag to me here at the house. If they didn't give this stuff away, the money grubbing actors wouldn't even show up if they didn't know they were going to win. Sad situation.
So from this we can deduce that the DOD are not the only ones spending $800 bucks for a hammer.
This is a news story?
I gotta go along with Bill Murray's Academy Awards predictions from the old SNL skit--best actor, best actress, best film--done. I don't have any bets riding on the outcomes, so stuff like that can be looked up the next morning.
That's more than most people make in a year. Somehow that just doesn't seem right.
I just don't get the attraction to these demented narcissists.
Can you say "INCEST"? Nothing but a group of overpaid "entertainers" voting each other awards.
And can you believe the number of awards ceremonies anymore? Oscars, Grammies, Golden Globes, Emmies, Tonies, BAFTAs, People's Choice, SAG Awards...the list goes on. Last night I was looking at photos of Anne Hathaway (I think she's very pretty) and noticed that these were photos from awards ceremonies she attended in the month of Feb. 2013. Every couple of days she was attending one....California, New York, Berlin, London. This woman had to be on a plane in the air almost as much time as she was on the ground in February. That's not counting the amount of time traveling the last few months to promote the movie (which I'm sure is part of the whole contract when they sign on to do a movie). Being an actor sounds glamorous but I noticed in some photos she looked tired. They get paid a lot of money but by the time they have to pay for clothes to keep up the image, publicists, managers, personal trainers to keep them in shape, nutritionists, stylists, homes, cars, etc, I'm sure that a lot of those big bucks they earn are pouring out to maintain an image that helps keep them employed. While some are lucky to have long careers, many are just a flash in the pan and after a few years disappear into TV or minor movie roles. Still, I've realized that while I may enjoy many of them in the movies they make, I doubt I'd like being around them in real life.
Who thinks up this stupid crap ???
The drop in value was due to the lack of liquor and prescription drugs this year. They didn't want Lohan, Sheen, and Gibson raiding everyone else's grab bags.
Giving the filthy (rich) gift bags for being loosers. That's rich!!
Nothing in Hollywood deserves any notice. ©2013