Swag bags worth $168,000 make every Oscar loser a winner

Twenty Oscar-nominated directors, actors and actresses will go home Sunday without a coveted statuette -- but they won't be entirely empty-handed.

For them, there will be swag bags worth $168,000 (RM612,000) each, put together by a Los Angeles niche marketing outfit called Distinctive Assets.

"This year’s bag is the most valuable collection of swag ever assembled at an Oscars gifting suite," said Vanity Fair magazine on its website.

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The contents range in value from $5 to $20,000, including a year of free car rentals, a high-end train trip in the Canadian Rockies, $25,000 of furniture and $4,000 of liposuction treatment.

Among the more eccentric items: a $250 laser vibrator, $280 in maple syrup, herbal-tea-based lollipops and a $20,000 astrology reading, according to Vanity Fair and other US news media.

The value of this year's "gift bag" is double that of last year's -- but under US tax law, recipients will have to declare the contents as income.