South Korea’s tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. declined to comment Monday on the controversy over its latest marketing attempt that the White House has criticized as using the U.S. president for commercial purposes.

“Let’s just say that Samsung does not have any official comment on the issue,” a communication official from its Seoul-based office said, refusing to answer any further questions.

The controversy erupted after the White House took issue with Samsung promoting a selfie that MLB Boston Red Sox hitter David Ortiz snapped with U.S. President Barack Obama on April 1 using Samsung’s phablet Galaxy Note 3. Samsung then tweeted the photo through its official account on Twitter.

The White House said it has spoken with its attorneys on Samsung’s attempt to use the image of the president for marketing purposes. (Yonhap)