Lavish 2023 Oscar goodie bags
Party favors for the rich and famous need to go
MARIA SIMPSON / CONTRIBUTOR / THE USD VISTA
The 95th annual Academy Awards, more commonly referred to as the “Oscars,” took place on Mar. 12 in Los Angeles, California. While the ceremony itself went well, with Michelle Yeoh being the first Asian woman to win ‘Best Actress’ for her performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” and no one being publicly slapped during the ceremony, the award show was not entirely unproblematic. This year, it was revealed that the Oscar goodie bags presented to attendees contained a piece of land in Australia. I was not even aware that awards shows like the Oscars had goodie bags, but apparently since the 1990s, the hosts and the nominees for the most prestigious categories have been gifted “Everyone Wins” goodie bags.
These Oscar goodie bags should be eliminated. They are a waste of money and perpetuate a world that is heavily materialistic, tolerates exploitation and pushes unrealistic body images as the norm.
The bags, which are organized and distributed by LA-based marketing company Distinctive Assets, are not officially affiliated with the Academy Awards, though they have become a hit tradition with most nominees. Individual companies pay for their items to be included in hopes that it will boost their business.
According to a CNBC Make It interview with Lash Fary, owner of Distinctive Assets, “We get calls from about 25% to 30% of the nominees each year who want to make sure we know where to get their bag to them.” This year’s bags were estimated to be worth $126,000 each. With 28 people — composed of the hosts and nominees of the top award categories who did not opt out of the party favors — receiving the bags this year, the total spent on the luxurious gift packages is over three and a half million dollars.
Public discourse on the goodie bags sparked primarily because of the square meter of land in Queensland, Australia, included in each set of gifts. But that was not the only extreme item featured. The party favors — over 60 items total — also included a vacation at a Canadian estate, a stay in a restored lighthouse in Italy, liposuction treatments, a facelift and a home restoration project, among smaller (but still luxurious) items such as silk pillow cases, edible massage oil and a loaf of Japanese milk bread.
These bundles are presented to some of the most famous, wealthiest and most privileged individuals in the world. Austin Butler, ‘Best Actor’ nominee for this role in “Elvis,” is estimated to have a net worth of four million dollars. Cate Blanchett, who was nominated for ‘Best Actress’ this year, is estimated to be worth $95 million, while the ‘Best Actress’ category winner, Michelle Yeoh, is said to have a net worth of about $40 million. They are perfectly capable of affording their own liposuction and luxury vacations with their own money. Presenting such lavish gifts to the elite members of society literally wastes millions of dollars. That money could go to a charitable cause. Think about how many homeless people that money could support, or how much that amount would contribute to something like cancer research, for example. Instead, the Academy threw millions out the window to help celebrities keep up their unachievable good looks and try foreign snacks they could buy on their own. For future award ceremonies, such money could be organized as a donation to a worthy cause.
The items inside the goodie bags are just as problematic as the insane amount of cash spent on them. First of all, the item that raised the most concern: the plots of land in Australia. This is not an isolated incident either; last year the goodie bags supposedly included a plot of land in Scotland. This gift item is horribly problematic because it implies that these elite members of society are so entitled that they can trade around pieces of another continent, as if it is their right.
The bags also include multiple cosmetic procedures, which I find equally disturbing. It’s no secret that celebrities often undergo cosmetic procedures to look younger, fitter and prettier than what is usually achievable for the average person. I already saw this as an issue when I believed they were using their own money for these alterations as it creates unattainable ideas of what a normal body should look like, causing harmful mindsets for regular people. However, it sickens me to find out that these procedures are gifted to movie stars, encouraging them to use the goodie bag item to alter their appearance. The items in the bags encourage an unrealistic body image, exploitation of Indigenous peoples in foreign countries, and a disturbing notion that the rich and famous are a more worthy sect of the population than everyone else.
The Oscar goodie bags are not a totally black and white issue. Some may argue that good comes out of the gift bags. For example, according to the Wall Street Journal, the Australian plots included in the 2023 gifts helps fund conservation efforts. Secondly, it was reported that over 50% of the companies who donated gifts are owned by women and/or minorities, which helps attract more business to said companies. Finally, he also noted to The Independent that the importance of the lavish gifts isn’t the fact that they are free, it is the fact that they provide secluded getaways for celebrities who do not often get the privacy they crave. However, I find these reasons to be insufficient in proving overall positivity of the “Everyone Wins” bags.
According to Daily Mail, for every two square meters of the privately owned Australian land purchased, two trees will be planted, but there is also accusation that photos and information of the area were taken without the permission of Indigenous people living there. The plots of foreign land in the gift bags seems to encourage exploitation behind the façade of conservation. And while it is nice that Distinctive Assets has focused on female and minority owned businesses, these are still luxury businesses designed for the rich and famous, and businesses are now required to pay at least $4,000 to donate their goods and services, according to Indian Express, suggesting that they are thriving to begin with. And although it may help those businesses get publicity, donating entire luxury vacations to nearly 30 stars is drastic. It would be incredible to see those same celebrities and businesses work together to donate those items to people who cannot afford them on their own. Lastly, it is understandable that Hollywood’s biggest stars want a rare, private getaway, but they have the money to research, organize and finance those trips on their own. They don’t need their next vacation included in a gift basket.
Although the goodie bags may have a couple of positive aspects, I don’t believe that the activism included in the baskets makes up for the incredible amount of money spent on celebrities who do not need free favors, or for the outright harmful ideas that the specific items encourage. The items in the goodie bags are problematic, and they waste huge sums of money that could be directed toward making a real difference. The Academy Awards and similar award ceremonies should recognize this and shift their priorities to make a positive impact, rather than helping boost wealthy celebrities further.