Negative Press
On April 2, the Boston Red Sox, a Major League Baseball (MLB) team and last year’s world series winner, visited the White House, got honored by Obama President for their win, and presented him with a team jersey. There, MVP of the Red Sox David Ortiz brought out his smart phone and took a selfie with the President.
Ortiz tweeted his selfie and the picture ricocheted around social media. That night, Samsung tweeted that Ortiz’s selfie was taken by a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Later, the local Boston Globe reported that Ortiz’s selfie was taken as part of Samsung corporate marketing.
A Samsung associate told the Boston Globe, “We heard about the visit to the White House; we worked with David and the team on how to share images with fans. We didn’t know if or what he would be able to capture.”
Samsung seemed to have benefited from a promotional boon after Ortiz’s pictures were taken by the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, but there was a twist in the event.
Among the local media, criticism was raised denouncing that Ortiz used the selfie with the President for a commercial purpose.
Some media used the words such as “stunt” or “setup.” The USA Today relayed one tweet that said, “This is creative but annoying,” and said there was an exchange of comments denouncing Ortiz.
According to USA Today, Ortiz said he had had a deal in place with Samsung “a couple months ago,” and that they supply him with phones “and other stuff,” but Samsung did not play any role in snapping the “selfie” at the White House.
Ortiz also said, “That was a once-in-a-lifetime moment... I didn’t know that he was going to let me take a picture with him. I really appreciate it. The selfie was not advertising or anything like that at all.”
According to Samsung and Ortiz, the “selfie” with the President was not intended.
Ortiz, who previously contracted with Samsung, visited the White House, and luckily, snapped a “selfie” with his Samsung phone. Samsung consequentially hit the jackpot. Samsung Electronics revealed the picture to the company’s twitter followers, which number about 5.2 million.
It does not seem to incur any legal problems either. Intellectual property rights lawyer Kevin Greenberg told USA Today, “Samsung does not show the President’s sponsorship for Samsung products,” explaining that Samsung does not have a problem with Ortiz’s pictures. However, the genius of the advertising does not seem to have totally positive results. Bloomberg Business Week’s Joshua Green said in ,his column, “I am a fan of Boston and Ortiz and also have a Samsung phone. But this [Obama selfie] is tacky.”
That day, American media Business Insider revealed that the President was not aware that Samsung and Ortiz had an agreement together in an article titled “President Obama Didn’t know He Was Being Used By Samsung.”
Business Insider conveyed that The White House confirmed Obama’s unawareness of the deal and declined to mention the picture taking that day.