The White House put on record that it "objects" to Samsung's commercial use of a selfie that Red Sox slugger David Ortiz snapped with President Obama earlier this week.
“As a rule, the White House objects to attempts to use the president’s likeness for commercial purposes,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. “And we certainly object in this case.” Carney declined to say whether the White House will take any legal action or stop Samsung from further using the photo, which has since been retweeted more than 40,000 times.
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Ortiz dropped by the White House on Opening Day and snapped a photo using the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Samsung was quick to retweet the photo.
Big Papi, Big Selfie. RT @DavidOrtiz What an honor! Thanks for the #selfie, @BarackObama pic.twitter.com/3I7ckLjquf— Samsung Mobile US (@SamsungMobileUS) April 1, 2014
Samsung later claimed credit for the stunt.
“We were thrilled to see the special, historic moment David Ortiz captured with his Galaxy Note 3 during his White House visit,” the company told The Boston Globe.