The 2014 Oscar’s most retweeted selfie taken by comedian and host Ellen DeGeneres has surprisingly managed to stir crticism for the use of a Samsung Galaxy phone, especially since the company was a big sponsor of the Oscars.
During the Oscars ceremony, DeGeneres took a selfie that rocked the Twittersphere with 3,299,529 million retweets and 1,859,649 favorites by Thursday. The photo included a group of glimmering Hollywood stars such as Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Lupita NyOng and others.
Many Twitter-users soon began to debate if the selfie was an orchestrated marketing ploy in anticipation of the ceremony.
To prove their point, many pointed to the fact that DeGeneres took pictures with the Samsung Galaxy during the ceremony, as indicated by the “via Twitter for Android” stamp on the tweet, but backstage she switched to iPhone, supposedly when no one else was looking.
According TechCrunch, an technology news website, Samsung denied any preplanned marketing stunt saying that the company was delighted to see Ellen organically incorporate the device into the selfie moment that had everyone talking. Their statement read, “A great surprise for everyone, she captured something that nobody expected.”
Moreover, Samsung, in honor of this famous selfie, has declared it will donate US$1.5 million to each of Ellen’s favorite charities: the Humane Society and St. Jude's.
Nonetheless, the photo sparked the jealousy of the other mobile companies competitors.
On 3 March, LG Jordan posted the selfie on Twitter with a comment saying, “If only Ellen had a G2 she would've taken this selfie herself.”
Meanwhile, the Lenovo posted a tweet said “No long arms needed when u have 'My Vibe.'”
Even Nokia chided in with a satirical tune, posting a blurred photo of DeGenres during the Oscars saying, “Let's do away with blurry photos, Ellen!”
