Oscar losers big winners when it comes to goodie bags

Oscar nominees who don't end up with a coveted gold statuette at the Academy Awards on Sunday night won't go home empty handed.

Los Angeles-based marketing firm Distinctive Assets will be handing out its annual "Everyone Wins at the Oscars Nominee Gift Bag", valued at more than US$45,000, to the talented and well-dressed "losers".

Among the items in the gift bags, known as swag bags, are trips to Australia, Hawaii and Mexico, personal training sessions, condoms, a bottle of tequila, hand-illustrated tennis shoes, appointments for injectable cosmetic fillers and "portion-controlled' dinnerware for those watching their figure.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars, stopped its practice of giving gift baskets to presenters and performers in 2007 after it came under closer scrutiny from tax authorities.

Celebrities who receive gifts and free trips at award shows are expected to declare them to the Internal Revenue Service and pay the appropriate taxes.

The Distinctive Assets gift bag is not endorsed by the academy but has been given to losing nominees for 11 years. The bags are delivered to the losing nominees' homes directly or through their agents or publicists.

This year's "Not Everyone Wins...." swag bag also includes acupuncture and aromatherapy sessions, a one-week stay at a fitness and weight-loss retreat, and a one-year membership to London's Heathrow Airport's private VIP service.

Nominees' children also benefit: they get to enrol in professional all-kid circus classes.

Voting for the Oscars closed on Tuesday night after a big spending campaign by Hollywood studios and the first online balloting system in the 85-year history of the awards.

More than 5,800 movie industry professionals were invited to vote in 24 categories.

The awards will be handed out on Sunday in Hollywood (Monday morning HK time).