Also called Hard Pills to Swallow · Difficult Truth Pills
The bottle already says “Hard to swallow pills.” Add the unwelcome realization beneath the pills in the lower panel to complete the visual metaphor.
The pills stand for something the speaker would rather avoid admitting. The best caption is specific enough for someone to recognize their own excuse in it.
The format can also carry opinions, but its confident label does not make an opinion a fact. A small, self-directed realization is often funnier than a sweeping claim about everyone else.
The two drawings come from the wikiHow article “How to Lower Myostatin Levels.” Know Your Meme dates the source illustrations to August 17, 2017. The meme changes the bottle label and uses the pills as objects to caption. [1]
On February 21, 2018, Reddit user The_New_Phone11 posted a version to r/meirl. A same-day repost by LeNegolossauro and further variations helped establish the format for blunt statements that are difficult to accept. [1]
The label in the top panel is already part of the picture. Place your realization in the lower panel, beneath the pills, so both the bottle and the tablets remain recognizable.
Keep the statement to one idea. A planner does not do the planning, a new camera does not choose the subject, and a reminder does not complete the task.
Original captions to try with this template.
Original artwork by wikiHow
The purchase feels productive before any planning has happened.
Original artwork by wikiHow
Better equipment cannot choose an interesting subject on its own.
Original artwork by wikiHow
The notification records an obligation without completing it.
References for this template. Example captions are original.
Identifies the wikiHow illustrations and documents the February 2018 Reddit versions.
