Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Los ricos nunca lloran!

At today's Golden Globes awards ceremony, presenters will receive swag bags filled with complimentary luxury items valued at more than $62,000.
Among the goodies: a cruise to mingle with the penguins in Antarctica; trips to diamond mines in the Canadian Arctic; and assorted designer watches, jeans, belts and sunglasses, as well as custom-made ice cream and top-flight vacuum cleaners.
"In this day and age, companies want to get their products into the hands of celebrities, and this is a way for them to do so," said Kelly Austing, manager of creative development at InStyle, the lifestyle and fashion magazine that created the benevolence box.
This year, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is handing all the event's guests -- including the unrecognizable ones -- gift bags valued at more than $1,300.
Here's a rundown of some of the freebies:
* Quark Expeditions whisks a VIP and friend on a two-week vacation to Tasmania, Antarctica and New Zealand aboard a 54-cabin ship to see the wildlife of the region. The package includes airfare for two to Argentina, accommodations, meals and expeditions, and cold-weather gear for the journey. ($22,000)
* "Rare in Nature: Diamonds of the Canadian Arctic" includes airfare for two to Yellowknife, the diamond capital of North America, luxurious accommodations, professional diamond cutting and polishing lessons, a personally engraved diamond pendant, plus a luxurious shawl made of special fiber. ($15,000)
* Chopard golden diamond ring. ($2,000)
* Denim for Immortality jeans, exclusively designed for Golden Globes presenters, with diamond button. ($1,250)
* Hugo Boss outfit from the spring/summer 2006 collections. ($1,200)
* Marble Slab Creamery homemade ice cream. ($300)
* Vax USA X5 vacuum. ($300)
* "The Woman in White" Broadway theater tickets. ($250)
Meanwhile, the guest bag includes such items as Lee jeans, subscriptions to Blockbuster Online, Dr. Bobby's Medical Foot Spa, Flowerbomb perfume, salon gift certificates, stationery, Godiva chocolates and more.

(Fuente: Fred Shuster, "Gift bags ready for neediest stars," in Los Angeles Daily News

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