White House Senior Adviser & Assistant to the President Dan Pfeiffer yesterday said that the White House "has had 'conversations' with Samsung" regarding Red Sox DH David Ortiz' selfie with President Obama last week. Pfeiffer, appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," said, "We have had conversations with Samsung about this, and expressed our concerns." He reiterated that the White House "was unaware of Ortiz' ties to Samsung," which were announced last week ("Face The Nation," CBS, 4/7). Ortiz yesterday said of the situation, "I’ve got no comment on that. I mean, I’m just a guy that got signed by Samsung in the offseason. Not too much I can say about it. I’m just trying to focus on baseball right now and just move on. Samsung has a lot of money and the White House has a lot of money, too. They’ll be cool with each other" (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 4/7). In N.Y., Stuart Elliott reports the federal government for decades has "sought to prohibit the use of the president and the office of the presidency for commercial purposes, as for instance when Weatherproof used an Associated Press photo of President Obama wearing one of its jackets for a billboard in Times Square in 2010." The company "quickly had the sign taken down after the White House protested" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/7).
WATCH YOUR HEALTH: In Hartford, Dan Haar noted health insurer Aetna has a sponsorship deal with the Red Sox that includes a "16-foot center field sign for the whole season; the Aetna logo behind home plate for 15 games; and the right to call itself a 'proud sponsor of the Red Sox.'" The Red Sox also will "schedule an Aetna Day at Fenway Park on a date to be announced." Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Aetna "might add more promotions as the season progresses" (COURANT.com, 4/4).
