Oscars 2014: Samsung Pays Ellen DeGeneres Huge Amount for the Ultimate Selfie - Host Switches to iPhone Backstage?
The recently concluded 86th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles proved to be a sparkling fanfare for actors and actresses in Hollywood. The actors enjoyed the awards night as funny woman Ellen DeGeneres graced the awards nights with her funny antics and jokes. The comedienne is certainly not a newcomer in Oscars-in 2007, Ellen hosted the prestigious awards night. Now on her second stint for the Oscars' hosting, Ellen brought down the house with her funny quips and gimmicks. One of Ellen's gimmicks included the time when she apparently ordered pizza, which was eaten by none other than big names such as Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong'o etc.
However, the most phenomenal thing Ellen did during the awards night is to take, what has been called, the ultimate selfie with the front row celebrities. "So this is true. We crashed Twitter. We just got an email, and we crashed and broke Twitter ... See, Meryl, what we did, you and I?" Ellen said during her hosting stint as her 'selfie' was retweeted almost a million times. According to Slate.com, the host was paid by the Korean company Samsung to serve as an extension of its Samsung Galaxy 5 commercial. The tweet apparently broke Twitter retweets record, beating President Obama's post, "For more years." One can see that Ellen's ultimate selfie had the tags "Twitter for Android."
Despite the huge sum Samsung paid to Ellen, the host just could not stop from using her own reliable iPhone. Twelve minutes before uploading the ultimate selfie pic, the host sent out another tweet, this time using her iPhone. The tweet said,"So handsome. He's on my live show tomorrow. I love @JaredLeto." Another tweet confirming that host did indeed switch her phones read: "Look who I just found backstage." which was sent via "Twitter for iPhone."
In sum, Samsung had to shell a fortune to sponsor the Oscars but still came out as a brand that celebrities only used when forced to. While Samsung is preparing for its release of the Galaxy 5, iPhone still practically dominates in Hollywood-at least when seen in Ellen Degeneres' perspective.