Ortiz snapped a selfie of him and Obama holding the jersey he gifted to the president, and all hell broke loose. You see, Red Sox slugger David Ortiz has a deal with Samsung to use Samsung phones, but as he told the Boston Globe, the tweeted selfies with famous people and current Presidents isn't part of that deal. Boston Globe reporter asked Ortiz straight: “Did Samsung pay you any more money for taking that photo?”
“No way, man..... That was one of those things that just happened. I gave him the jersey, and the photographers were going to take their pictures and I thought, really at the last second, maybe I should snap a shot with my phone while I have the chance. It had nothing to do with no deals.”
Spontanious or not, Samsung is very pleased that he took the shot and aren't shy of latching onto it, even retweeting his tweet.
“We were thrilled to see the special, historic moment David Ortiz captured with his Galaxy Note 3 during his White House visit. It was an honor to help him capture such an incredible and genuine moment of joy and excitement. Similar to the selfie Ellen was able to capture during the Oscars, this was an opportunity for David to share the incredible moment with his fans.”
The white house are less than thrilled: White House Objects to Big Papi Samsung Selfie with President Obama. Being tricked into advertising for a product when you're president of the United States is a big deal. Even bigger than the Hollywood stars who jumped into Ellen's selfie at the Oscars, who may or may not have deals with other tech companies and competition to Samsung. The FTC’s guidelines regarding endorsements in advertising are pretty clear on the endorsing having to know that they're involved. Then there's also the whole "their likeness" in ads mess on top of that.
Will this type of photo bomb advertising be subject to twitter-blur on social media in the future. the same way that rap stars can't wear their favorite logo t-shirt on MTV without a constant fuzz following them about? After all, when Twitter announces new ways to pay them to advertise, they might not appreciate the sneaky selfies from celebs that take down their entire service without getting a piece of that pie.
What an honor! Thanks for the #selfie, @BarackObama pic.twitter.com/y5Ww74sEID
— David Ortiz (@davidortiz) April 1, 2014
Looks like the White House may be done with Selfies and Samsung. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/202766-no-more-white-house-selfies
On another note though, remember when Ecko Tagged Airforce one? Seems so quaint now.
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