White House Considering Ban on Selfies With the President
If you want a photo with President Obama, you'll have to get someone else to take it. After some recent high-profile photos, the White House is officially reining in the Twitpic-er-in-Chief.
Last week, there was a blowup over Obama's selfie with World Series MVP David Ortiz, who turns out to be a "celebrity insider" for Samsung. Ortiz had Samsung-sponsored instructions to get the Obama pic—with his sponsored Galaxy Note 3, natch—and pulled it off brilliantly. His photo was retweeted nearly 40,000 times.
What an honor! Thanks for the #selfie, @BarackObama pic.twitter.com/y5Ww74sEID
— David Ortiz (@davidortiz) April 1, 2014
The problem? Obama wasn't aware that the Red Sox star was doing some curt shilling for Samsung on the side.
"As the rule the White House objects to attempts to use the president's likeness for commercial purposes… We object in this case," White House press secretary Jay Carney said last week.
Now, the White House is prepared to go even further.
"Maybe this will be the end of all selfies," Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer said on Face the Nation.
We can only hope.
Update: Not actually. Press Secretary Jay Carney said Pfeiffer was suggesting "humorously" that the Ortiz incident would end selfies, but he wasn't talking about White House policy. No word on whether Obama would support a constitutional amendment to ban self-photography.