Celebrity pets are destined to be the big winners following Oscar season this year, with two gifts aimed at the four-legged featuring prominently in the annual goodie bag.
Cats can enjoy complimentary bags of raw dehydrated super food from organic Canadian brand Smack, while dogs will be cheered to learn that for each recipient of the goodie bag, plant-based company v-dog will donate 10,000 canine meals to Peta’s Global Compassion Fund.
Splashier items include three holidays, one in a Swiss chalet, a holistic wellness retreat 100 miles from Hollywood and three nights in Saint Barts.
Health and grooming items make up the bulk of the parcel, including numerous skincare products, liver pills, topical glutathione and microneedling, while consumables are also well represented, with bite-sized gluten-free cashew cookies, sugar-free cherry gummies, a sagar sugar experience, tequila, gin and a collagen peptides drink mix.
Those on the move are amply catered for, with portable purse seats, blenders and an infrared grill on the list, plus home project management and a clinical sleep consultation for once the trips are over.
The “Everyone Wins” nominee gift bags are produced by PR company Distinctive Assets, which distributes them to the ceremony’s host, plus all 20 acting nominees, and the five contenders for best director.
A 2016 lawsuit alleging trademark infringement sought to confirm that the bags have no official tie to the Oscars and that – as the first paragraph of this year’s press release stresses – “Ampas does not award, sponsor, endorse or provide these gift bags”.
As well as donating the gifts, the 70-odd companies whose pitches are accepted by Distinctive Assets’ founder Lash Fary, must also pay an inclusion fee of around $4,000.
Last year’s bags were estimated to be worth around $125,000; this year’s figure is comparable, said Fary.
“While this gift bag does, as always, have an impressive six-figure value,” he said, “that is neither our focus nor goal. Just as any A-list actor doesn’t ‘need’ millions of dollars to walk on to a film set, these gifts are given based on the invaluable stardust these nominees can bestow upon a brand.”
Fary also said he hoped this year’s haul would spotlight “small businesses, minority-owned brands, female entrepreneurs and companies who give back”.
Lower cost swag includes a tuning fork and a Rubik’s Cube 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition, as well as a compendium of movie quotes, a children’s book of kindness and empathy, gratitude postcards fostering intergenerational connectedness, Mark Daley’s harrowing memoir of being unhappily fostered and Dr Stacie Stephenson’s self-help guide, Glow.
Another doctor has also supplied his wares: Dr Carl Christman, who is billed as “mentalist to the stars” and offering a private show. Christman is a communications professor and mentalist who performs at the Magic Castle in Los Angeles and specialises in mind-reading.
The Oscars take place in Hollywood on 10 March. While the supporting actor prizes are almost certain to go to Robert Downey Jr and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, the leading actor and actress races are going down to the line, with Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone, and Cillian Murphy and Paul Giamatti, battling for the gongs.
The losers can nonetheless receive a yet more special statuette via the goodie bag: a full-colour 3D selfie figurine from Hawaii-based company dooplikit.
