Samsung Deny Ellen DeGeneres' Record Breaking Oscars Selfie was a Marketing Stunt

Samsung denied claims that Ellen DeGeneres' mass celebrity selfie at the Oscars was a coordinated marketing stunt, but admitted it was "delighted" with the development.

The photograph, taken with a Galaxy Note smartphone, went viral on Twitter but was not part a product placement deal, according to a report by TechCruch.

Samsung said it was DeGeneres who chose to "organically incorporate the device into the selfie moment that had everyone talking", according to the tech blog which cited a statement from the company.

Overjoyed by the unexpected popularity, the company also said that it would make a donation of $1.5m (€1m, £897,000) each to Ellen's charities of choice.

"A great surprise for everyone, she captured something that nobody expected. In honour of this epic moment and of course, the incredible response of nearly three million re tweets, we wanted to make a donation to Ellen's charities of choice: St Jude's and the Humane Society of the United States," said Samsung in a statement.

Samsung, however, did not reveal the details of its deal with ABC. It is estimated that the company paid up to $20m for five minutes' worth of advertisements during the broadcast.

Most Tweeted Selfie

The three-million times retweeted photo broke the twitter record, previously held by US President Barack Obama for his photograph posted after winning his second term in election.

The photograph features Oscars host DeGeneres surrounded by celebrities including Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Lawrence, Lupita Nyong'o and Bradley Cooper.

There were reports, however, that Samsung's sponsorship agreement included 10 celebrity selfies backstage. DeGeneres' other snaps with winners posted on Twitter using her personal iPhone added to the suspicion.