Why 'Big Papi' Got Paid to Take Selfie With President Obama
There's more to this selfie than meets the eye.
April 1, 2014— -- The spontaneous selfie David Ortiz took with President Obama is now showing up in posts that appear to have been promoted by Samsung on social media.
A spokesperson for Samsung told ABCNews.com that Ortiz and the company have "a relationship" -- and it seems the deal with Big Papi is already paying off.
The 2013 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox visited the White House today and Ortiz seized the moment for a selfie with his Galaxy Note 3 phone.
"We have a relationship with David and the Red Sox. We partner with people who have like-minded values and fit with who we are as a brand," the Samsung spokesman told ABCNews.com in a statement.
It was was unclear whether the White House knew anything about Ortiz and Samsung's plans for the selfie.
Samsung famously had viral success during the Oscars last month when host Ellen DeGeneres took a star-studded selfie with her Samsung phone.
The comedian gathered a gaggle of A-list stars and had Bradley Cooper take the selfie of the group, which she captioned, "If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars"
Less than an hour after she posted it on Twitter, DeGeneres' photo surpassed the previous record of 780,000 retweets set for a President Obama tweet after his re-election in 2012. The instantaneous surge even caused technical problems for Twitter.
In March, the president teased DeGeneres about her selfie, calling it a "pretty cheap stunt."