Bringing Pet Rescue and Philanthropy to the Oscars Swag Bags!
The Oscars are now 10 days away and the whole of Los Angeles is already in Prepare-to-Launch mode, I used to live there for over 20 years and was in the movie business myself, so I can tell you that even now every limo is booked, hotel room is filled, hairdresser and makeup artist are reserved and the streets are deserted on the Day Of, as the one-industry town hunkers down to see what lives will be changed by the award process. In the years I lived there, the Oscars were held on a Monday, and offices were shut down and streets more deserted than on Christmas Day.
And in those days, while the women all dressed up, no one ever would ever have asked a question as odd as, “Who are you wearing?” The focus was on the nominated performances and the voting process, not on thousand dollar shoes, multi-thousand-dollar gowns, and million dollar rented jewels. And there was no such thing then as a “swag bag” — which is not a literal bag, but a mountain of extremely pricey name-brand “stuff” and destinations and establishments that companies pay another company a steep price, for the privilege to give their product or service to the best actor and best supporting actor categories in hope the actors will wear the thing or mention the brand or frequent the place and thereby give it their stamp of approval. I guess there’s no harm in this innovative way of “brand building,” and certainly it’s human nature to want to get “stuff for free” — especially really costly exclusive stuff, even if you are one of the celebrities who is already very wealthy and has a ton of stuff already, much of it previously gifted to you hoping the paparazzi will photograph you in it.
But on some level those Oscar nominees wish the focus could be back on what matters to them — the parts they played, the work they did, the dedication they have had to their craft for a lifetime, in many cases. During the whole hoopla process there are many actors who might prefer recognition for what is fundamentally meaningful and praise-worthy about their craft and profession during this awards ceremony with such a long and illustrious history in their business — not the high fashion business, or the watch business, or the jewelry business, but the reason they are actors in the first place and grateful for the opportunity to have gotten a role that got them to this moment in time. Halo, Purely for Pets also knows that many celebrities adopt their pets and put a really high value on their four-legged family members. (Halo Purely for Pets co-owner Ellen DeGeneres is the host of the Oscars again this year and has rescued pets herself.)
Halo decided to appeal to the generous nature and conscience of the celebs and they had the brilliant idea to put into those swag bags something of an entirely different nature to genuinely gladden the hearts of the nominated actors: in the swag bags filled with $55,000 worth of fancy watches and trips to faraway luxury resorts, there will be a stunning philanthropic certificate that entitles the holder to choose an animal shelter to which Freekibble.com will donate over $6,000 worth of Halo Spot’s Stew! I think that certificate will give the Oscar nominees the altruistic delight of knowing they can bestow superior nutrition and pleasure to pets who have no home yet, who have no loving person to come home to (whether they win an Oscar or not) but who can have a happier, healthier time waiting for their Forever Home with some fine Halo food under their belts. That is certainly the philosophy of Halo, Purely for Pets which has given away millions of meals to shelter pets through their partnership with Freekibble.
As the rest of us go on about our lives and prepare to set aside the evening of March 2nd to cluster around the television with our pals and see which movies and actors take home the gold statuette, it will feel so good to know that for every actor who doesn’t win — and has to put on a brave face — they are also winners because they can now donate 10,000 meals of Halo to the animal rescue or shelter of their choice. Bravo Halo and Freekibble — bravo for putting the focus on Oscar night on something basic and affirming — the good fortune for the actors to make a charitable donation to the pets in shelters who deserve something better. Many celebrities are well known for their own generosity,
–Tracie Hotchner
Halo is a sponsor on Radio Pet Lady Network, by our invitation.
