While egg prices in the U.S. continue to soar, the cost of becoming a sponsor for the White House’s Easter Egg Roll is even higher.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House is seeking corporate sponsorships for this year’s Easter Egg Roll and companies can pay up to US$200,000 to have their brand advertised at the event.
Sponsors for the event, taking place on April 21, are able to choose from three options that cost between $75,000 and $200,000, according to the New York Times, who reviewed a nine-page guide for potential sponsors by an outside event production company named Harbinger.
“The most expensive package includes a corporate booth, logo placements, branded snacks or beverages, exclusive tickets to brunch with the first lady, Melania Trump, a chance to engage with the White House Press Corps, a private White House tour and 150 tickets to the event,” the newspaper reports.
The guide invites sponsors to “be a part of history” and “provide financial support, activities and giveaways to enhance the event while gaining valuable brand visibility and national recognition.”
The Easter Egg Roll, which began in 1878 during President Rutherford B. Hayes’ administration, invites children to coax colourfully dyed hard-boiled eggs across the White House lawn to a finish line, among other “egg-tivities.”
“This is an enterprise. This is not your grandmother’s Easter Egg Roll where people lined up outside the gate and go and roll an egg and get a little gift bag and walk out,” a former official involved in planning the event, which has a history of being privately funded, told CNN.
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The nine-page guide includes logos from the White House and Harbinger, photos of Trump and First Lady Melania Trump and photos of past Easter Egg Roll events.
The guide includes the platinum sponsorship package, gold sponsorship package and the silver sponsorship package which include different offerings.
The platinum sponsorship package, priced at $200,000, includes branding for a key area or activation, program inclusion and the choice of one additional branding and visibility. It also includes four tickets to “an invite-only brunch hosted inside the White House” by First Lady Melania Trump, 100 general admission tickets, 50 VIP tickets, exclusive access opportunities onsite, choice of meet and greet or a White House tour and a custom 30’x30′ branded activation.
The gold sponsorship package, priced at $125,000, includes program inclusion, choice of one additional branding and visibility, two brunch tickets, 75 general admission tickets, 25 VIP tickets, exclusive access opportunities on site, choice of meet and greet or a White House tour and a custom 20’x20′ branded activation.
The silver sponsorship package, priced at $75,000, includes program inclusion, exclusive access opportunities on site, 50 general admission tickets and a custom 10’x10′ branded activation.
According to CNN, all of the money raised by Harbinger will be placed into an account run by the White House Historical Association, which is a private nonprofit organization.
“For many presidencies, the White House Historical Association has collaborated with White House staff to facilitate a public gathering such as the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. And as we do with other gifts to the White House collection, we receive contributions and in-kind gifts that are used on the grounds that day,” the association’s president, Stewart McLaurin, told CNN.
The decision to include corporate sponsors for the event has received criticism from many, including Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who called for a boycott of any companies that take part.
Richard Painter, who served in the White House Counsel’s Office under U.S. President George W. Bush, said, “showcasing company brands at the White House Easter Egg Roll in return for payment is impermissible use of public office for private gain.”
“We’re not running this like a football stadium where you get logos all over the place to raise money,” Painter added.
“The Egg Roll is for the kids. We shouldn’t seek profit from something like that. Just seems tacky and not at all in the spirit of Easter,” former Libertarian presidential nominee Chase Oliver wrote on X.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called the move “absurdly corrupt.”
“For $200,000, CEOs can slap their corporate logo on Donald Trump dressed as the Easter Bunny,” she added.
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