Over $200,000 in gifts: Swag bag for Oscar nominees includes trips, genetic tests, and marijuana

What a feeling it must be to win an Oscar. Just like the feeling of being nominated for the statuette. Fame and fortune, media exposure, professional recognition and pats on the back from some of the most famous and talented people on the planet, as well as a horizon full of projects. But, with or without the little golden man, who wouldn’t want to go home with a bunch of gifts, trips, and treats just for being on the list? For more than two decades, the company Distinctive Assets has been in charge of pampering around 20 nominees with a huge bag of gifts, and this year it will do so again. Vitamins, stays in luxury hotels, pet cushions, wine, bath salts, makeup, personalized cookies, marijuana (legal in California), luxury cosmetics or even insurance and discounts on construction projects are included this season in the already famous gift package, which has reached an astronomical value: over $200,000.

Although the gift bag is called “Everyone Wins,” the fact is that not all the nominees will receive it. There will be only 25 — 10 for the best actor and actress nominees, 10 for the best supporting actor and actress categories and five for best director. Those responsible for the gift package say that, if she does not attend the Oscars, they will also send the items to Karla Sofía Gascón; but they want her to be present, they state. The total value of the bags distributed exceeds $5.4 million. Each one has a value of $216,190 dollars (and 86 cents, to be precise). In reality, the physical gifts are worth only $13,634 because the remainder are trips and experiences that must be redeemed. Even so, the overall value is up from last year when it was $180,000.

The aftermath of the devastating fires that hit Los Angeles less than two months ago, with thousands of homes destroyed and the loss of 30 lives, is reflected in this year’s gifts. For example, a company called Bright Harbor offers a little over $39,000 in each bag for its services, which basically involve creating recovery plans (ranging from reconstruction aid to mortgage management or mental health resources) for those who have been through a disaster. They give $3,500 to each of the 25 nominees (they provide their services both preventively, almost like insurance, and after the fact), but they also provide another 10 vouchers of $3,500 each to be given away. Another Los Angeles company, Maison Construction, gives $50,000 to construct a building and explains that “it is 100% transferable to a victim of the fires.” In fact, those are the highest-priced gifts out of the total of 61 on the list.

Other prizes to be redeemed — and which are always the most expensive — are, as is the case again this year, trips. These include a stay at the Cotton House hotel in Barcelona, with a value of $5,200; another luxurious accommodation in the Maldives offers four nights in a hotel with a spa and treatments worth more than $23,500; or five nights in the hills of Sri Lanka worth $8,500. A doctor from Tampa (Florida), who specializes in liposuction, provides treatments worth $25,000, while a genetic testing company offers a three-month family membership and a collaboration with a specialist to delve into the nominee’s ancestry and construct their family tree; the value is also $25,000. The illusionist Carl Christman, who calls himself “the mentalist of the stars,” offers a private, live show for another $25,000; For those who are not tempted, the gift can also be exchanged for a membership to the Hollywood Illuminati.

In addition, there are physical gifts, from brands that are generally not too well-known, many of them local, who give away their products for an opportunity of visibility that compensates them for the investment. Prices range from the $600 invested in each bag by a luggage brand, which gives away travel items, to $6 per bottle of Chilean wine, the cheapest item in the package. Cosmetics are also included, with brands of food supplements, moisturizing creams, makeup, and treatments. For example, a cosmetics company owned by a freckled mother of two children — soon to be three — an entrepreneur from Arizona (as she describes herself) gives away her lip balms with UV protection, at a rate of $400 per kit. There is also a facial toner for $88, or a sleep improvement device for $139.

Gifts include food items like a $25 bag of artisanal pretzels, a $30 bag of gourmet popcorn, a box of tea for $94, a pack of seven varieties of nuts for $22, and personalized candy and cookies for $165, as well as home items like handmade candle holders for $150, maple cheese serving boards for $75, and pillows and dog clothes for $495. Nominees will receive vegan perfumes for $58, leather shoe bags for $195, and fun-print sashes for $167. There’s even a pack of pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes valued at $194.

Distinctive Assets says it will deliver the bags to each nominee. You won’t find them at their seats; in fact, they are not officially affiliated with the Oscars or the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. They cannot use their branding and they are not present at the ceremony, which they make a point of reiterating. “While our gifts may be famous for being fun and fabulous, they also serve as a means to elevate small businesses, minority-owned brands, female entrepreneurs and companies that give back,” says Lash Fary, the company’s founder. “This year, on the heels of the historically tragic LA fires, we have found even more ways that our celebrity swag can do good in our community.”

Fary has been making a business of gifts for over 20 years. He has managed to become a news item and a part of the Oscars, even though he is not formally associated with them, thanks to making contacts and linking names and brands. He gives them enormous visibility and he, of course, keeps a percentage. In an interview with this newspaper last year, he acknowledged that, no matter how famous the recipients to whom he gives the package are (and they are), no matter how rich, no matter how high up in their mansions on the hills, almost nobody ever says no. “Let’s be realistic: you are never famous enough to not accept free things. It’s a win-win.”

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