The Oscars represented many firsts on Sunday. Among them: Halle Berry wore Jimmy Choo shoes! Whoopi Goldberg wore red, crystal-studded Hush Puppies! Judi Dench wore Victoria's Secret diamond-encrusted underwear!
Stop the presses!
PHOTO: REUTERS
The stars took the spotlight at the 74th annual Academy Awards but product placement ruled the day. In the weeks leading up to the film industry's most prestigious awards more companies than ever blew into town to aggressively promote products.
Companies such as Estee Lauder Companies Inc and Chanel, Diageo Plc's Bacardi and even General Motors Corp's Cadillac division holed up in fruit-and-flower laden suites of Hollywood's poshest hotels offering stars a chance to peruse their products and take home free samples.
Bacardi created the "ultra-hip," 1970s themed "Bacardi O Lounge" at the L'Hermitage where they served free mixed drinks to all who entered, including reporters, stars and socialites.
The stars, in turn, walked off with cosmetics, skincare products, US$10,000 spa packages, digital cameras, sunglasses, perfumes, US$5,000 bras from Victoria's Secret featuring removable diamond straps that doubled as necklaces, expensive wristwatches .
Phew!
Even La-Z-Boy got into the act this year, offering stars certificates for free recliners. Tempur-Pedic, Inc. was giving away free US$1,700 mattresses. (Made from exclusive Tempur material, the mattresses were originally designed for the NASA space program and are designed to mold to a person's size and shape, according to the company's press release.)
"If you go to the Peninsula or L'Hermitage every single accessory and makeup and handbag and shoe and mouthwash and shampoo company is using the Oscars to sell their products. It's like a giant shopping mall and all the stars go over there and get freebies," said Elizabeth Snead, entertainment columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News.
"And then the publicists e-mail the press to say the stars are using their products and the companies get publicity. It's a vicious cycle," Snead said.
The media is on the take too. Reporters walk away with a range of gifts from mascara, shampoo, bathrobes, makeup samples and free facials at elaborate spa packages in the case of some celebrity television commentators.
One publicist who wished to remain anonymous said there is an A and B list of reporters. "We wouldn't give the same gift to a reporter, say from Baltimore, as we would to someone, say, from a New York magazine," the publicist said.
But the marketing madness does not stop there.
Every single Oscar party this week, Snead said, received backing from an automaker. Therefore one could spot Cadillacs, BMWs, Chryslers, and Mercedes Benz autos parked in the midst of the poshest Oscar fetes.
And the stars are human. While once they were known to steal ashtrays from Swifty Lazar's Oscar parties, pilfering is no longer necessary they now receive thousands of dollars, and in many cases millions of dollars worth of merchandise, said stylist Phillip Bloch, who dressed best actress winner Halle Berry for the Oscars and personally received "huge boxes" filled with promotional products.
"We've gotten so much amazing loot this week. Kodak digital cameras, palm pilots, invites from the spas, sunglasses, Hanes hosiery has sent the biggest box you have ever seen in your life, it comes past my waist, almost as high as I am, filled with hosiery for all my clients," Bloch said.
The companies consider it a mark of distinction to give their products away to stars or anybody associated with the Academy Awards, said Robert Tuchman, whose company, TSE Sports and Entertainment matches corporations such as Nabisco, Kraft and Pepsi Cola with celebrity promoters.
"The value has grown tremendously in recent years in terms of viewers and people trying to get affiliated with stars and celebrities at the Academy Awards," Tuchman said, adding that a celebrity talking about a product could equal millions of dollars in promotion and advertising.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
RSS