In recent years, the White House Easter Egg Roll has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and now, the Trump administration is putting forward an unconventional idea to fund it: corporate sponsorships. The event production company Harbinger, which is putting on this year's Egg Roll, is offering sponsorship opportunities ranging in price from $75,000 to $200,000, according to information sent to potential sponsors that was obtained and reported by CNN and the New York Times. Among the perks that are possible depending on just how much a sponsor donates to the cause:
- "Naming rights for key areas or elements"
- "Sponsor logos featured on event signage"
- "Custom-branded baskets, snacks/beverages, or souvenirs"
- "Mentions in official event communications and social media posts"
- "Acknowledgment in printed or digital event programs"
- "Inclusion in press releases and media interviews"
- Tickets to the event plus an "invite-only brunch hosted inside the White House by FLOTUS" and a White House tour
- The priciest package offers, among many other things, a corporate booth for the sponsor
Since it was first hosted in 1878, the event has been privately funded, with much of that funding (plus tens of thousands of eggs) coming from the American Egg Board, a marketing group affiliated with the egg industry. Legal and ethical experts were, not surprisingly, calling shenanigans, with an official who worked in the White House Counsel's Office under the George W. Bush administration noting, "That would have been vetoed in about 30 seconds in my day." There are regulations that would seem to prohibit this sort of thing, but of course, Trump also had no problem making a sales pitch for Tesla at the White House earlier this month. (More White House Easter Egg Roll stories.)
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