The Oscars swag bag that made rounds last week, and which included items like a “vampire breast lift” and a $250 vaporizer, isn’t officially sanctioned by the Academy, which is now suing the marketing company responsible for promoting the gift bags.
Many may have presumed these luxury items to be Academy-approved, with everyone from Vanity Fair to TMZ (and Jezebel) covering it. But in a lawsuit, which describes the contents of the gift bag as “less-than-wholesome,” the Academy accuses the marketing firm Distinctive Assets of unlawfully using their organization’s name to shill gift bags that have nothing to do with the Oscars.
The Academy denies any connection with the firm, stating in the lawsuit that this promotion serves to “dilute the distinctiveness of the Academy’s famous trademarks and tarnish their goodwill.”
Part of the complaint reads (via The Hollywood Reporter):
Press about the 2016 gift bags has focused on both the less-than-wholesome nature of some of the products contained in the bags, which purportedly include a $250 marijuana vaporizer, a $1,900 “vampire breast lift,” skin treatments by Park Avenue plastic surgeons valued at more than $5,500, a $250 sex toy, and $275 Swiss-made toilet paper, and the unseemliness of giving such high value gifts, including trips costing tens of thousands of dollars, to an elite group of celebrities.”
Fine, but the Academy should perhaps unclench and strongly consider some of these items in its actual gift bags, if there are any.
Contact the author at clover@jezebel.com.
Image of Leonardo DiCaprio at 2016 SAG Awards via Getty