White House: No Ban On Selfies With President

The White House is not banning selfies, despite fears of a crackdown after a photo featuring Red Sox player David Ortiz and the President was used in an advertisement.

However, the White House did ask America's Olympic athletes to keep their cell phones in their pockets last week when they visited the White House and met with Barack Obama.

The White House said it was a longstanding practice because taking individual photos with hundreds of people would not be practical.

But it insisted there was no outright prohibition of selfies.

"There's no discussion of a ban," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

Last week Ortiz, the Boston Red Sox slugger, took a selfie with the president during his team's visit to the White House, and tweeted it.

Samsung, the maker of the phone Ortiz used, used the picture in an advertisement, and many criticised that snapshot as a marketing ploy.

Ortiz denied taking the picture with the knowledge it would be part of a promotion.

The White House expressed irritation, with Mr Carney pointing out that the White House objects any time the President's image is used for commercial purposes.

On Sunday, White House Senior Advisor Dan Pfeiffer said the White House had expressed its concerns to Samsung about the ad.

"Maybe this will be the end of all selfies," he joked, raising speculation a ban was being planned.

Mr Obama was embroiled in another selfie controversy in December, when he, David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt took a selfie during the memorial service for Nelson Mandela.

Photos of the three leaders squeezing in for the shot quickly went viral on the internet and some Twitter users suggested it was inappropriate behaviour given the circumstances.