PARK CITY, UT – Ashley Olsen scored a sweet pair of vintage Ray Ban sunglasses as well as a 13-month old baby boy while passing through this year’s Sundance Film Festival InStyle celebrity gift lounge.
The recent trend towards offering complementary babies to Hollywood stars have many concerned that swag lounges, which offer celebrities the opportunity to walk away with more than $100,000 worth of free goods in a mere few minutes, definitively crosses the line.
With an overwhelming presence at most film festivals, awards ceremonies and sponsored events, the lounges have become a virtual toy chest for celebrities looking for extravagant, free goodies such as laptop computers, entire jewelry lines, $30,000 watches, month-long vacation packages and now, children.
“Children as swag raises many questions along ethical lines, most notably where the babies originally came from and over time, what becomes of them” said Molly Toomey, Task Manager of Orange County’s Department of Social Services.
“It’s definitely an issue we’re looking into,” she sternly interjected.
When reached for comment Instyle representatives disclosed the babies were donated from a bankrupt orphanage and are the company’s rightful property.
But prospective mothers, when alerted to the phenomenon, think differently.
”I’ve been on a 10-year waiting list to adopt a child, so to hear of this is just heartbreaking,” said prospective mother Wilma Doubleday, 38, of nearby Denver.
Certainly more unsettling is the 94% turnover rate of children obtained through gift lounges. Studies show the majority of these “swag children” are quickly re-gifted as presents to staff members soon after the initial “high” of possessing a child wears thin.
“Oft times it’s the first dose of reality these celebrities encounter,” said Doubleday.
“It’s not like a plant.”
