The extravagant swag bag is an Academy Awards tradition that involves handing out very expensive gifts to very rich people.
Officially, this tradition is not sanctioned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2016, the Academy sued Distinctive Assets — the L.A.-based marketing company that has put together Oscars goody packages for the last 16 years — for trademark infringement and sullying the Oscar brand. So, officially, these gift bags are not Oscars gift bags; Distinctive Assets is calling them “Everyone Wins” bags. Unofficially, it’s still a bunch of very rich people getting very expensive gifts.
This year’s 26 acting and directing nominees will receive swag bags rumored to be worth over $100,000. Their dizzying, eclectic array of gifts includes, but is by no means limited to:
- Luxury vacations to Tanzania, Greece, and Hawaii
- A 23AndMe kit
- Pepper spray
- An 18-minute “phobia-relief” session
- The NeverMissed dating app, available pre-launch (Though, if you’re using it pre-launch, is anyone on it? Other Oscar nominees, I guess.)
-Bangarang’s Positive Cube — a wooden box filled with 199 cards of “positive actions and quotes” that can be “drawned, shared, hash-tagged, photographed, etc.”
- Underarm sweat patches
- A $10,000 donation to the animal shelter of their choice
See the full list of nominees’ goodies here.