YouTube, Amazon and Meta sign up to sponsor White House Easter Egg Roll

By Betsy Klein, CNN

(CNN) — The White House has set up high-dollar partnerships with YouTube, Meta and Amazon, among others, for Monday’s Easter Egg Roll, underscoring the close relationships the leaders of those tech companies have sought to cultivate with the Trump administration.

The White House, through an outside production company called Harbinger, solicited corporate sponsors for the traditional springtime event ranging 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 first reported by CNN last month.

Several major American tech companies and associations have signed up, according to an official White House press release on the event sent by the office of the first lady Friday.

The Egg Roll has been privately funded without taxpayer dollars for many years. All money raised by Harbinger will go to the White House Historical Association.

Friday’s release highlights an “array of entertaining activities thanks to the White House Historical Association and its partnerships.”

That includes, according to the White House, a “Reading Nook, courtesy of Amazon”; the “Bunny Hop Stage, courtesy of YouTube”; an “AI-Powered Experience and Photo Opportunity, courtesy of Meta”; and a “Ringing of the Bell Photo Opportunity, courtesy of the New York Stock Exchange.”

Those sponsorships come as those Silicon Valley leaders, who donated to Trump’s inaugural fund, have lost billions in value as markets – from the NYSE to others across the globe – have experienced volatility as a result of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

CNN has reached out to the tech companies.

The American Egg Board, which has long supported the event, is again supplying the 30,000 hard-boiled eggs, as well as a “Garden Café for Tasty Treats.”

Other sponsors include The Toy Association, the International Fresh Produce Association, and the National Confectioners Association.

Signature Brands, LLC, which owns the Betty Crocker brand, will provide a cookie decorating station, and GALA is hosting a digital egg hunt game.

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.

Prospective sponsors were offered opportunities for “naming right for key areas or elements,” “logos featured on event signage,” “custom-branded baskets, snacks/beverages, or souvenirs,” and “mentions in official event communications and social media posts.”

Upon viewing the Harbinger pitch document last month, Richard Painter, who served in the White House Counsel’s Office under President George W. Bush, told CNN that it “wouldn’t have gotten through Counsel’s Office.”

“That would have been vetoed in about 30 seconds in my day,” he said. “We’re not running this like a football stadium where you get all logos all over the place for kicking in money.”

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