Samsung's alleged selfie stunt last week has the White House frowning and fuming.
The selfie-in-question was taken at the Red Sox World Series celebration last week. As CNN shows, President Obama was on hand to honor Beantown’s All-Stars, when MVP David Ortiz snuck in a quick pic with the President.
White House staff found out later Ortiz has a contract with his smartphone's maker, Samsung, who promoted the photo on Twitter to its 5.2 million followers.
It reads, “Big Papi, Big Selfie. RT @DavidOrtiz What an honor! Thanks for the #selfie, @BarackObama” (Via Twitter)
Senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer appeared on CBS’s "Face the Nation" Sunday to tell host Bill Schieffer,
PFEIFFER: “Well, he obviously didn't know anything about Samsung's connection to this. And perhaps maybe this will be the end of all selfies.”
SCHIEFFER: “Well, are you going to take any kind of legal action? Or--”
PFEIFFER: “Well, we've had conversations with Samsung about this and expressed our concerns.” (Via CBS)
So far, neither the White House nor Samsung is saying if any legal recourse will be taken. On Thursday, Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters why the White House might shield the President from future selfies.
“I can tell you that as a rule the White House objects to attempts to use the President’s likeness for commercial purposes. And we certainly object in this case.” (Via The White House)
Appearing to be caught in the middle of this controversy is Ortiz, who backtracked in The Boston Globe claiming his selfie wasn’t pre-planned.
"I wasn't trying to do anything. It just happened in that moment. It was a fun thing. I signed that deal with Samsung a few months ago. They didn't know what would happen. Nobody did." (Via The Boston Globe)
However, Ortiz isn’t the first public figure to dish out a Samsung selfie promotion.
In February, Oscar host Ellen Degeneres famously captured this celebrity-studded pic during the live awards show. Samsung again insisted that the spontaneous snap was not a promotion for its Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 held in Bradley Cooper’s long arms.
President Obama has come also under fire before for ill-timed, face-timing at events.
Namely, this pic. As the New York Post reports, the candid moment shows the President, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Denmark Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt taking a selfie during Nelson Mandela’s memorial service.
The Obama Administration is known for being progressive when it comes to embracing technology and social media. We’ll see if future events have a “no front-facing camera” rule.
