diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 82a8b249a2..6956cf0851 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -239,9 +239,19 @@ AC_SUBST(GST_PREFIX)
 AC_SUBST(GSTPB_PREFIX)
 
 dnl GTK is optional and used in examples
+HAVE_GTK=no
 if test "x$BUILD_EXAMPLES" = "xyes"; then
-  PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GTK, gtk+-3.0, HAVE_GTK=yes,
-  [PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GTK, gtk+-2.0 >= 2.14.0, HAVE_GTK=yes, HAVE_GTK=no)])
+  AC_MSG_CHECKING([which gtk+ version to compile examples against (optional)])
+  AC_ARG_WITH([gtk],
+    AC_HELP_STRING([--with-gtk=3.0|2.0],
+                   [which gtk+ version to compile against (default: 2.0)]),
+    [case "$with_gtk" in
+        2.0|3.0) ;;
+        *) AC_MSG_ERROR([invalid gtk+ version specified]);;
+    esac],
+    [with_gtk=2.0])
+  AC_MSG_RESULT([$with_gtk])
+  PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GTK, gtk+-$with_gtk, HAVE_GTK=yes, HAVE_GTK=no)
   AC_SUBST(GTK_LIBS)
   AC_SUBST(GTK_CFLAGS)
 fi