Samsung insists Oscars ‘selfie’ wasn’t a marketing stunt

Digital Marketing, Industry News By Rhys Little, 7th March 2014

The Oscars selfie, which almost instantly became an internet sensation, wasn’t an organised marketing stunt, Samsung claims.

In a statement to techcrunch.com, the firm says it will donate $1.5 million (around £900,000) to two charities of Ellen DeGeneres’ choosing to thank her for creating an “epic moment”.

“While we were a sponsor of the Oscars and had an integration with ABC, we were delighted to see Ellen organically incorporate the device into the selfie moment that had everyone talking. A great surprise for everyone, she captured something that nobody expected.”

The photo, which was organised and uploaded to social media website Twitter by DeGeneres, has now gathered over three million retweets. It includes a number of actors, such as Kevin Spacey, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Lawrence surrounding DeGeneres herself. Bradley Cooper captured the iconic photo using the TV presenter’s Samsung phone, hence why it was widely believed that it was an arranged stunt by the phone manufacturer.

Moreover, Samsung had also sponsored ten celebrity selfies which were taken behind the scenes of the show, reports theguardian.com. Even though the group selfie wasn’t one of the sponsored photos, it seems that Samsung’s heavy involvement in the Oscars hasn’t done the company any harm. Especially since it managed to become a part of Twitter history, breaking President Barack Obama’s previously set record for the most retweeted message of all time.