The White House is in a tiff over Samsung’s use of a selfie shot taken Thursday of the president and Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz as a quick and easy marketing ploy.
“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, The Hill reported.
At the same time, Mr. Carney refused to say whether attorneys for the administration were calling Samsung to get the company to stop using the snapshot, the media outlet said.
Mr. Ortiz snapped the photo as he presented President Obama with a No. 44 Red Sox jersey with Mr. Obama’s name on the back in red letters. That photo was then sent out by Samsung’s Twitter account, with the tag brag: Photo taken by a Samsung phone.
Samsung executives later said to the Boston Globe that they 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. … When 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 using his Note 3 device.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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