After White House town hall event with a group of young Southeast Asian Leaders, president Obama worked his way around the room shaking the hands of many of the participants.
“No selfies,” he grinned as one woman raised her phone as the president approached.
Obama, the first president to use a selfie stick, has struggled to keep a lid on presidential selfies with people after it was revealed that Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz had been paid to use a Samsung phone during his visit to the White House in April 2014.
“Maybe this will be the end of all selfies,” White House Senior Advisor Dan Pfeiffer warned on CBS’s Face the Nation after the event. “Someone who uses the President’s likeness to promote a product … that’s a problem with the White House.”
Any effort to ban selfies with Obama was breached however when actress Hillary Swank visited the White House in March 2015. “This doesn’t happen everyday!!!!!!!!!” Swank wrote after posting the image on Instagram. “It was such a pleasure to meet you Mr. President.”
A photo posted by Hilary Swank (@hilaryswank) on Mar 20, 2015 at 4:03pm PDT