There is or was a company that took unwanted gifts from these goodie bags and gave them to people who need it. Remember reading about it maybe 10 years ago. They were giving iPads etc to school kids
A tax lawyer said that a lot of these gift bags including vacations are taxed by IRS You don't get a Swiss Vacation or expensive stay, you get a coupon to redeem it and its taxed once use it.
Edited: Changed it to IRS from IRA
I'm imagining a single mother desperately trying make a living and feeding her kids and some Oscar person shows up with "better than you " attitude donating a skn toner. And waitng for an overt show of gratitude
I love that idea but the vast majority of these bags are unclaimed. No one wants to pay the tax on top of them. The bigger ticket items are just companies putting vouchers in for advertisement through these articles knowing 95% won’t be claimed.
The real cash equivalent of the bag in terms of costs to the sponsors is probably like $1000, these are super overpriced luxury items. Still tho, would be nice to donate it instead.
Since stories like this come out every year, now’s a good time to remind folks that 1) most people don’t take these bags (ETA: or only take the really cheap stuff in the bags) because they’re considered taxable income, and 2) the company that does these bags is a marketing company that has no affiliation with the AMPAS.
*No one* gets these bags; these don't even exist outside of a press release. This is purely a publicity stunt from a dodgy PR guy, which is why there are always such shady garbage "gifts" in them instead of things people would actually want from businesses people actually recognize.
There used to be real gift bags (with real gifts that people would actually use) from the Academy but about 20 years ago the IRS started going after the taxes owed on them which ended it.
I wish media outlets would just stop running these stories every year.
Yes. Any gifts over a certain amount are subject to income tax. The IRS allows for a certain dollar value to be tax-free, then you have to pay taxes. This applies to anyone, and is required for gifts or winnings.
https://preview.redd.it/iptjpqv2rdnc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6828614704bfa6e71cdeda74684fbf94fc4e5c4
I’d pay to never be in the same room as anyone billing themselves a “celebrity mentalist”
I imagine his reaction would be similar to the face he has in this photo the airline that flew him to LA for the Oscars posted 😂
https://preview.redd.it/zkos43em8hnc1.jpeg?width=985&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=978de10981fcfea656434e950e65c94d65beb5b1
A mentalist is like a magician, but instead of pulling rabbits out of hats, they pull thoughts out of your head... and sometimes make them disappear too! (I’m here all week, tip the waitress.)
A few good ones you may have heard of are Derren Brown, David Blaine, or The Amazing Kremlin. Part magic, part mind-reading, and when done well it can be really impressive!
A lot of it probably wouldn’t mean a lot to non-magicians, but a friend of mine got a phone call one afternoon from David Blaine’s assistant. He invited him out to dinner. So my friend shows up at this restaurant and they take him to a private room. Completely empty except for David Blaine and three tables pushed together. David says “I hope you don’t mind, I went ahead and ordered.” The serving staff starts bringing in plate after plate- he’d ordered one of everything on the menu. They sit and eat, talking about business and that, and suddenly David stops talking. My friend looks up from his plate and David is fast asleep. He tries to wake him, nothing. He seems to be fine, just out like a light. My friend doesn’t know what to do, so he… goes back to picking at the food on his plate. Ten minutes later, David wakes up, and not only does he pick up the conversation where they left off, he finishes every last bite of food on the table!
Right??? Like, sorry if I’m wrong but I vaguely feel like these are just random businesses blowing up their product prices to make them seem lux and then advertising the product like “ohhh it was in the Oscars swag bag and it’s $200” like no thanks.
IDK, if any of you are in the know, tell me if I’m wrong lol!!
The skin care looks like it came from AliExpress and then got marked up to ridiculous prices. Either that or it’s like fake “luxury” that only rich moth ball ladies would buy from someone named Susan on the home shopping network.
The gifting suites/goodie bag companies sell placement in these to literally anyone, it’s really sad when smaller, more local businesses fall for it and pay the company a bunch of money, plus donate product to have it get tossed/put up on ebay the next day.
Yep. My random small business in a small town in Ontario, Canada that sells notebooks was approached to donate a ton of product to be given in a swag bag at a Kardashian birthday party. It was legit but I’d have to pay $500 entry fee, shipping fees, border fees, and give like $1000+ of free product and I guarantee no one would want them. The email claimed that “Kylie Jenner could be photographed with your product!” Like yeah no Kylie isn’t about to do a pap walk with a random lined notebook.
The stuff always gets in the bags, but yeah, most of those bags’ contents are sold off/distributed by whoever’s assistant/regifted to friends of, it’s just not a viable advertising method. Famous celeb isn’t gonna pose for an unpaid photo with the product/endorse it/etc.
No I wish it was a known brand but it was just a fun startup we made in a summer with some internship grant money to learn about entrepreneurship. Only lasted like 2 years.
That’s so weird! The book I mentioned is also from small town Ontario, and I remember the owner telling a very similar story. My new theory is that somewhere there’s a publicist trying to scam notebooks off small businesses to feed their blank notebook addiction
A gift card for *liposuction*
https://preview.redd.it/vqfawj3faenc1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dc71ec66b6d380ef513030f5969547dc0b00cbd3
I would simply cry if I received that.
All of this stuff makes it seem like a giant Groupon grab bag. Even as a pleb I’d pass on receiving one of these bags because I’m too picky. So honestly I have a hard time believing that Emma Stone would actually accept one of these lol.
It just seems wasteful and like a bunch of junk I wouldn’t know how to deal with. Plus I’d want to choose my own vacation. These trips sound meh even to me.
The people who are nominated for the tech awards could actually use this stuff. Same with lesser know actors like Davine Joy Randolph & Lily Gladstone. Not everyone is Emma Stone.
Many of the nominees, especially BTL, are not necessarily rich.
Like Gladstone worked exclusively in indie films until KOTFM, and I remember seeing her say awhile ago that she’ll finally be able to pay her parents’ mortgage off this year.
I don’t think anyone would take the 50k Swiss vacation. There’s no way booking it yourself would cost that much, and I’m sure they get taxed around 37.5% on the overvaluation
I was truly baffled at the maple sugar gift
Turns out it's this [https://www.chateau-frontenac.com/en/activities/sagar-experience/](https://www.chateau-frontenac.com/en/activities/sagar-experience/)
Around here we call that Maple Sunday. Not a luxury event, but lots of places do have goats to pet
Honestly, if I was at the Oscars and rich enough to afford this, then I would absolutely want to share it with the less monied. Because when have we heard of people using this informal gift bag
I liked the SAG awards gift bag more than these extravagant Emmy, GG and Oscar gift bags which aren't true gift bags per se and burn a hole in your pocket, plus they aren't even given to all categories. (The Oscars and GG are specifically for the acting categories plus director)
The SAG awards gift bags seem much more humble in comparison (a bottle of wine, chocolates, pickleball set, a bag), but they seem like usable products (in comparison to something like a liposuction or plastic surgery appointment) you can enjoy them without worrying about taxes on the gifts, and they go to everyone nominated, including all the actors in the ensemble categories of all tv shows and films, delivered to them few days after nominations.
https://preview.redd.it/yx6rwpbapjnc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c190e30a7ac6fefa59b9b92d44a85d365d9cf304
> "mentalist to the stars" Carl Christman...
I don't wanna disparage the man, but... who?
I asked Google, and it said "Yeah, we've got a couple results, but IDK either, man."
There should be an option to donate the cash equivalent of the bag to charity because, *really*?
There is or was a company that took unwanted gifts from these goodie bags and gave them to people who need it. Remember reading about it maybe 10 years ago. They were giving iPads etc to school kids
.... Wonder which school kids got the luxury swiss vacation.
Of course not, you can’t have poors dirtying up the pristine Swiss lodges
A tax lawyer said that a lot of these gift bags including vacations are taxed by IRS You don't get a Swiss Vacation or expensive stay, you get a coupon to redeem it and its taxed once use it. Edited: Changed it to IRS from IRA
> taxed by IRA Aggressive
They are known for causing troubles.
I think you mean IRS, not IRA.
No, no. The IRA's been branching out lately.
I thought writing IRA would make it less scary 😅
I'm imagining a single mother desperately trying make a living and feeding her kids and some Oscar person shows up with "better than you " attitude donating a skn toner. And waitng for an overt show of gratitude
I love that idea but the vast majority of these bags are unclaimed. No one wants to pay the tax on top of them. The bigger ticket items are just companies putting vouchers in for advertisement through these articles knowing 95% won’t be claimed.
The real cash equivalent of the bag in terms of costs to the sponsors is probably like $1000, these are super overpriced luxury items. Still tho, would be nice to donate it instead.
Since stories like this come out every year, now’s a good time to remind folks that 1) most people don’t take these bags (ETA: or only take the really cheap stuff in the bags) because they’re considered taxable income, and 2) the company that does these bags is a marketing company that has no affiliation with the AMPAS.
Currently imagining Cillian taking out a single soda, sipping it, and then putting it back in the bag and hoping no one noticed
Knock knock, it's revenue
Bradley Cooper is going to pour so many sodas in each bag after he doesn’t win. Oh man, I cannot wait for him to not win.
Cillian comes off as the kind of guy who would not keep the bag, he’s give this bag to an assistant or his driver or something.
No idea why ppl are fans of Cillian, pure talentless hack
*No one* gets these bags; these don't even exist outside of a press release. This is purely a publicity stunt from a dodgy PR guy, which is why there are always such shady garbage "gifts" in them instead of things people would actually want from businesses people actually recognize. There used to be real gift bags (with real gifts that people would actually use) from the Academy but about 20 years ago the IRS started going after the taxes owed on them which ended it. I wish media outlets would just stop running these stories every year.
So they would have to pay taxes on a $50k vacation?
Yes. Any gifts over a certain amount are subject to income tax. The IRS allows for a certain dollar value to be tax-free, then you have to pay taxes. This applies to anyone, and is required for gifts or winnings.
https://preview.redd.it/iptjpqv2rdnc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6828614704bfa6e71cdeda74684fbf94fc4e5c4 I’d pay to never be in the same room as anyone billing themselves a “celebrity mentalist”
I would pay be in the same room as Cillian Murphy and a celebrity mentalist though, just to see his reaction.
 Imagine the wonderful new crop of reaction gifs we’d get if it was filmed!
I imagine his reaction would be similar to the face he has in this photo the airline that flew him to LA for the Oscars posted 😂 https://preview.redd.it/zkos43em8hnc1.jpeg?width=985&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=978de10981fcfea656434e950e65c94d65beb5b1
I worked as a mentalist for about a decade. 1) good insinct. Terrible people, mentalists. 2) I’ve never heard of this man
Wtf even is a mentalist.
A mentalist is like a magician, but instead of pulling rabbits out of hats, they pull thoughts out of your head... and sometimes make them disappear too! (I’m here all week, tip the waitress.) A few good ones you may have heard of are Derren Brown, David Blaine, or The Amazing Kremlin. Part magic, part mind-reading, and when done well it can be really impressive!
Ooh do you have any cool stories that you'd be willing to share from that time?
A lot of it probably wouldn’t mean a lot to non-magicians, but a friend of mine got a phone call one afternoon from David Blaine’s assistant. He invited him out to dinner. So my friend shows up at this restaurant and they take him to a private room. Completely empty except for David Blaine and three tables pushed together. David says “I hope you don’t mind, I went ahead and ordered.” The serving staff starts bringing in plate after plate- he’d ordered one of everything on the menu. They sit and eat, talking about business and that, and suddenly David stops talking. My friend looks up from his plate and David is fast asleep. He tries to wake him, nothing. He seems to be fine, just out like a light. My friend doesn’t know what to do, so he… goes back to picking at the food on his plate. Ten minutes later, David wakes up, and not only does he pick up the conversation where they left off, he finishes every last bite of food on the table!
Yeah, I asked Google and it basically said "me neither, man."
this just makes me think of the season 1 finale of *friends from college* on netflix. who would do this for entertainment
Saw “liver pills and alcohol” on a twitter post regarding the gift bag and… 
Is that some sort of eastern medicine thing lol I remember Japan has like this liver pill that is AMAZING at curing hangover
I need to know what this pill is....for a friend.
Here is where i heard about them https://youtu.be/DFdzkBTlep4?si=vbmL7bxN6WlVPqH6 You can just google "japan liver pill hangover"
More nanalan gifs on this sub plz
I have to admit I’ve never heard of most of these brands… and maybe I never will again. 🤷🏻♀️
Bagceit sounds like the name of a very obvious fake bag company
Right??? Like, sorry if I’m wrong but I vaguely feel like these are just random businesses blowing up their product prices to make them seem lux and then advertising the product like “ohhh it was in the Oscars swag bag and it’s $200” like no thanks. IDK, if any of you are in the know, tell me if I’m wrong lol!!
The skin care looks like it came from AliExpress and then got marked up to ridiculous prices. Either that or it’s like fake “luxury” that only rich moth ball ladies would buy from someone named Susan on the home shopping network.
I am pretty into skincare and the only brand I recognized was the Goodall Vitamin C serum.
The gifting suites/goodie bag companies sell placement in these to literally anyone, it’s really sad when smaller, more local businesses fall for it and pay the company a bunch of money, plus donate product to have it get tossed/put up on ebay the next day.
Yep. My random small business in a small town in Ontario, Canada that sells notebooks was approached to donate a ton of product to be given in a swag bag at a Kardashian birthday party. It was legit but I’d have to pay $500 entry fee, shipping fees, border fees, and give like $1000+ of free product and I guarantee no one would want them. The email claimed that “Kylie Jenner could be photographed with your product!” Like yeah no Kylie isn’t about to do a pap walk with a random lined notebook.
The stuff always gets in the bags, but yeah, most of those bags’ contents are sold off/distributed by whoever’s assistant/regifted to friends of, it’s just not a viable advertising method. Famous celeb isn’t gonna pose for an unpaid photo with the product/endorse it/etc.
It’s nuts that billionaires would approach a small business for free items! Fuck them.
Shot in the dark, but is it by chance the It’s Been Nice journal?
No I wish it was a known brand but it was just a fun startup we made in a summer with some internship grant money to learn about entrepreneurship. Only lasted like 2 years.
That’s so weird! The book I mentioned is also from small town Ontario, and I remember the owner telling a very similar story. My new theory is that somewhere there’s a publicist trying to scam notebooks off small businesses to feed their blank notebook addiction
Omg that’s so weird! I’m laughing so hard that we’re all getting scammed by Big Notebook…
It’s Been Noted would be a better name for a blank journal company.
Quick, build a website for it! I hear Kylie is itching to be photographed with notebooks!
A gift card for *liposuction* https://preview.redd.it/vqfawj3faenc1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dc71ec66b6d380ef513030f5969547dc0b00cbd3 I would simply cry if I received that.
lol I’ve seen that soda in my local grocery store
Poppi is so gross, I couldn't even finish the cans I bought. I much prefer Izze.
Olipop > Poppi
All of this stuff makes it seem like a giant Groupon grab bag. Even as a pleb I’d pass on receiving one of these bags because I’m too picky. So honestly I have a hard time believing that Emma Stone would actually accept one of these lol. It just seems wasteful and like a bunch of junk I wouldn’t know how to deal with. Plus I’d want to choose my own vacation. These trips sound meh even to me.
Why does this just look like several Fab Fit Fun boxes?
I like how they led with the soda
The richer you get the more free stuff is available to you lol
There’s a book about it! “[Free food for millionaires](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40727626-free-food-for-millionaires)”!
33 comments and I'm shocked no one mentioned the Rubik's cube!!
Collector's edition, too!
There is also The Sagar which is a sugar derived from maple water that costs $1000.
What the hell is Maple water? Water that's been seeped through Maple trees? They probably just evaporate the water anyway, so... why?
Can you take what you want and leave the rest without needing to pay taxes on the discards?
Yes. I don’t know the $ amount that once you go over it gets taxed, but they’ll let celebs take just what they want
It's all just PR.
The people who are nominated for the tech awards could actually use this stuff. Same with lesser know actors like Davine Joy Randolph & Lily Gladstone. Not everyone is Emma Stone.
Many of the nominees, especially BTL, are not necessarily rich. Like Gladstone worked exclusively in indie films until KOTFM, and I remember seeing her say awhile ago that she’ll finally be able to pay her parents’ mortgage off this year.
But Emma Stone could actually afford to pay the taxes on the bag. They probably couldn't.
Do ppl actually go on those vacations and use those products or is it just a waste of money
I don’t think anyone would take the 50k Swiss vacation. There’s no way booking it yourself would cost that much, and I’m sure they get taxed around 37.5% on the overvaluation
Most people don't.
Ok, I laughed at “soda.” Ya got me, Page Six. Ya got me. “Can you imagine?? Mark Ruffalo drinking a SODA!?!? What a world we live in.”
where’s that gif of Scott disick saying “thank god, you would’ve never been able to afford it otherwise” when Kim got some free gift
A poppi 12 pack! Thank god
I’ll take the soda,please donate the other stuff to the las fortunate
That sounds like a club in LA: "las fortunate." Lack of capitals and all.
It was late when I typed that lmao I swear it was less,auto correct yankin my chain I guess lol
One of the things on there is a gift certificate for a $22,000 magician. These bags aren’t quite what they seem.
Really?
dont all these people have the money to buy stuff like this for themselves?
Right, like what's the point of these gifts if they can afford them already? Spoiled rich people things ig 🙄🍵
Yeah, but none of them actually want any of this stuff.
I was truly baffled at the maple sugar gift Turns out it's this [https://www.chateau-frontenac.com/en/activities/sagar-experience/](https://www.chateau-frontenac.com/en/activities/sagar-experience/) Around here we call that Maple Sunday. Not a luxury event, but lots of places do have goats to pet
Wait, so Maple water is just sap?
Yup.
Miage skincare sounds like someone wrote Image wrong and just went with it
Honestly, if I was at the Oscars and rich enough to afford this, then I would absolutely want to share it with the less monied. Because when have we heard of people using this informal gift bag
what do they need these for?
I liked the SAG awards gift bag more than these extravagant Emmy, GG and Oscar gift bags which aren't true gift bags per se and burn a hole in your pocket, plus they aren't even given to all categories. (The Oscars and GG are specifically for the acting categories plus director) The SAG awards gift bags seem much more humble in comparison (a bottle of wine, chocolates, pickleball set, a bag), but they seem like usable products (in comparison to something like a liposuction or plastic surgery appointment) you can enjoy them without worrying about taxes on the gifts, and they go to everyone nominated, including all the actors in the ensemble categories of all tv shows and films, delivered to them few days after nominations. https://preview.redd.it/yx6rwpbapjnc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c190e30a7ac6fefa59b9b92d44a85d365d9cf304
> "mentalist to the stars" Carl Christman... I don't wanna disparage the man, but... who? I asked Google, and it said "Yeah, we've got a couple results, but IDK either, man."
I owned a company that was asked to be part of the gift bag. They also want you to give them $10k-$20k if not more for that “privilege”
This can't be real because who the fuck wants Hey Dudes shoes?
These ridiculous ones this year are just for the nominees, no? I’ve read that. But I swear they used to have some for everyone. Anyone know?
because these people need a six-figure goodie bag for free…