‘This is not your grandmother’s Easter Egg Roll’: White House seeks corporate sponsorships for Easter event | CNN Politics

The White House, through an outside event production company called Harbinger, is soliciting corporate sponsors for this year’s Easter Egg Roll, which is prompting major concerns from ethics experts and shock from former White House officials from both parties.

The sponsorship offers range from $75,000 to $200,000, with the promise of logo and branding opportunities, according to a nine-page document sent to potential sponsors and obtained by CNN.

The Egg Roll, which began during the Rutherford B. Hayes administration in 1878, has long been privately funded without taxpayer dollars, largely through the American Egg Board, which also provides tens of thousands of eggs for the occasion. And all money raised by Harbinger will go to the White House Historical Association.

But the solicitation for sponsorships marks an unprecedented offering of corporate branding opportunities on White House grounds running counter to long-established regulations prohibiting the use of public office for private gain.

The pitch document laying out sponsorship opportunities includes logos for both the White House and Harbinger, which previously produced the event during President Donald Trump’s first term and is offering “initial planning” and “event day execution” for sponsors that sign on. It features imagery of Trump, first lady Melania Trump, members of the Trump family, the Easter Bunny, and the White House press corps, including CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins.

It’s not the first time the Trump White House has openly flouted norms and rules from the South Lawn. Earlier this month, the president touted a selection of Tesla vehicles accompanied by the company’s CEO Elon Musk. In 2020, the Republican National Convention was held in part on the grounds.

Previous egg rolls have been a source of tension between those involved with planning and the Counsel’s Office. Multiple administrations had to tell Coca-Cola that thousands of Dasani water bottles donated for the event could not be served in Coke-branded coolers, for instance, because of the branding restrictions placed by the White House lawyers.