[imagesource: Lucy Nicholson / Getty Images]

Despite all the trouble it has caused, the “Everyone Wins” Oscars nominee swag bags will still be gifted this year.

PR company Distinctive Assets, which assembles and distributes these extravagant gift bags to Oscar nominees as a sort of consolation prize for not winning an Oscar, has courted controversy over the years.

The skirting of the IRS is one, with all those sumptuous tax-free gifts being given to celebs.

The gift-giving became such a problem that the Academy Awards even sued the PR company once for the mere association, per The Daily Beast.

Anyway, this year the top 25 Oscar nominees in the acting and directing categories – including Will Smith, Jessica Chastain, Ariana DeBose, Denzel Washington, Nicole Kidman, Kristen Stewart, and Kirsten Dunst – will be given one of the most outrageous hampers so far.

While these nominees are really hoping to win the golden trophy and adoration and recognition that comes with it, at least they can walk away with a handful of “Karma Nuts” and “Red Carpet Fudgiest Brownies Ever” if they don’t win.

Granted, the hamper also has plots of land in Scotland from Highland Titles, Art Lipo body enhancements and Celebrity Arms Sculpting, and a stay at Turin Castle squeezed in there.

At that point, who would want a golden trophy that collects dust over some pretty arms and the title of “Lords and Ladies of Glencoe”?

Image: Distinctive Assets

If that doesn’t do it for the celebs, then perhaps the gold-flake-infused ARITI extra virgin olive oil inspired by Homer’s ancient Greek epic, The Odyssey, will

Distinctive Assets sure has set up a lavish marketing scheme for participating brands.

Here’s more from InStyle:

Other items in this year’s gift bag include an inflatable orca from PETA, Piper & Perro luxury unisex fragrance, Hotsy Totsy Haus + Devour Por Vida Blue Lux CBD Bath Bombs, a Qai Qai doll from Serena Williams, Siempre Tequila Plata, a limited-edition artist series Trust Me Vodka, Coal and Canary candles, and special sessions with fitness legend Diego Sebastian, Dr. Konstantin Vasyukevich, and wellness coach Kayote Joseph.

Image: Courtesy InStyle

Nominees will also get copies of The Wizard’s Wish by Brad Yates, Tree by Melina Sempill Watts, and Building a Legacy of Love: Thriving in the Sandwich Generation by Christy Yates.

Snacks include Karma Nuts, limited-edition gold-leaf-covered “Red Carpet Fudgiest Brownies Ever” from Wunderkeks, flavor wrapped popcorn kernels from Opopop, and Whipped Drinks at-home coffee kits.

The worst has got to be that plastic orca pool float from PETA that says “SeaWorld…BLOWS” – like, don’t they know that ocean plastics are doing substantial harm to sea animals?

The Oscars has, for a long time, had a problem with being stuck in this Hollywood bubble, trying with all its might to “assert its relevance amid all of the other, far more important things going on in the world”.

The criticisms and controversies that have warped the awards ceremony over the years all point to this, from the more damaging accusations of sexism and racism to the more recent scandals that have already made this year’s ceremony leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

Those scandals include Rachel Zegler, the lead in the Oscar-nominated West Side Story, not getting an invite to the ceremony and host Amy Schumer’s tone-deaf joke about the Russian-Ukraine invasion:

[She made the] suggestion that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky take a break from leading a country during a devastating war to FaceTime into the telecast and flirt with Frances McDormand, or something.

Eish.

Well, if those ‘Everyone Wins’ gift bags were supposed to save the day, it might be time for the backup plan.

[sources:dailybeast&instyle]