A month ago Academy Awards host Ellen DeGeneres took what appeared to be a spontaneous live action shot of herself with a bunch of A-List actors and actresses at the Oscars ceremony.
It later turned out that Samsung, a sponsor of the Oscars broadcast had essentially paid to have its Galaxy phone used in the stunt.
It was funny. Once.
One of the tasks American presidents love to perform is hosting championship sports teams at the White House. The congratulations of a grateful nation are proffered in return for which the officeholder is presented with a team jersey bearing his name and the number of his presidency.
This is a relatively new tradition - there are no records of Lincoln doing any such thing, not that he, a canny pol, would have objected. In the mid-twentieth century, presidents liked to throw out the first pitch of the baseball season, back when that was the nation's most popular sport. But then the Washington franchise was inveigled to relocate to Texas for more money and, well, everyone moved on.
So it now turns out that the Boston Red Sox visit to the White House for their star turn featured a selfie arranged by the team's beloved star, David 'Big Papi' Ortiz. Turns out that Big Papi just signed on as a Samsung shill and the serendipitous photo op probably wasnt quite as innocent as it looked. Papi swears it was all on the up-and-up. But the White House isnt swinging at whatever he's pitching and this may be the end of selfies with the Prez.
The larger lesson for Samsung and the rest of us, in this cynical age, is that these things have a shorter life than advertisers might like. Given the concerns about privacy, self-interest and violation of personal space, everyone in the world will now wonder to what purpose such photos are being used, who paid for it and who will benefit from it. Come to think of it, demanding a piece of whatever sales can be demonstrated to accrue from such false jollity could have a real upside. JL
Dylan Stableford reports in Yahoo News:
A controversial selfie taken by David Ortiz during a visit by the Boston Red Sox to the White House was later revealed part of a promotion for Samsung.A controversial selfie taken by David Ortiz during a visit by the Boston Red Sox to the White House last week may be the last, senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said on Sunday.It was later revealed that the image of Ortiz and President Barack Obama snapped by the Red Sox slugger was part of a promotion for Samsung.
“Well, [President Obama] obviously didn't know anything about Samsung's connection to this,” Pfeiffer said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “And perhaps maybe this will be the end of all selfies.”White House officials have "had conversations with Samsung about this and expressed our concerns," Pfeiffer said, declining to give specifics. “We'll leave that conversation between the lawyers."During the ceremony, as the Red Sox presented a commemorative No. 44 jersey to Obama, Ortiz pulled out his phone to snap the photo with the president.“He wants to take a selfie!” Obama said. “It's the Big Papi selfie.”
Ortiz later tweeted the selfie from his Twitter account. Samsung retweeted the photo, saying it was “thrilled to see the special, historic moment David Ortiz captured with his Galaxy Note 3 during his White House visit."
"When we heard about the visit to the White House, we worked with David and the team on how to share images with fans," the company said in a statement. "We didn’t know if or what he would be able to capture using his Note 3 device."
According to Sports Business Journal, the All Star designated hitter recently signed an endorsement deal with Samsung to be its "MLB social media insider."
"So when the Red Sox visit the White House this week to commemorate their World Series victory, 'Big Papi' will be tweeting and sending photos on Samsung’s behalf," the publication reported Monday, the day before Papi snapped the presidential selfie.
On Wednesday, Ortiz denied the selfie was part of his new endorsement deal.
"It wasn't anything promotional, anything like that," Ortiz said. "I mean, who knows that you're going to take a picture with the president? How many people can guarantee that? It was something we don't even have to talk about."It just came out right in the moment when I gave him the jersey and he asked to take pictures," Ortiz continued. "It was like, 'Oh, wait a minute, let me see if I can get away with this.' I was lucky that I was right there. It was fun. It was something I'll never forget."The White House isn't forgetting, either."As a rule, the White House objects to attempts to use the president's likeness for commercial purposes," White House press secretary Jay Carney said during his daily news briefing on Thursday. "And we certainly object in this case."Last month, Samsung benefited from viral success when Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres took a star-studded selfie with her Samsung phone. The photo was retweeted more than 3 million times, a new Twitter record. The previous record holder: Barack Obama.
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