The White House is looking for corporate sponsorships for its upcoming Easter Egg Roll event, prompting ethics concerns, according to CNN.
Sponsorships range from $75,000 to $200,000, with the promise of logo and branding opportunities, a report viewed by CNN found.
The event began during the Rutherford B. Hayes administration in 1878 and has been funded without taxpayer dollars through the American Egg Board.
The White House is using an event production company, Harbinger, to try to get sponsors, CNN reported.
The move is an unprecedented one, allowing companies to brand a White House event.
“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 told CNN.
Harbinger is offering sponsors who sign on “initial planning” and “event day execution.”
The White House noted on its website that planning the event has typically fallen to the first lady, who incorporates “her own tastes and interests to the event.”
The Hill has reached out to Harbinger and the White House for comment.
