The Illusion of Free Choice Meme Generator
Drag text anywhere on the The Illusion of Free Choice template, style every box its own way, drop in your own images, then download, copy, or share it.
Click a text box to edit it. Drag to move, corners resize, top handle rotates.
What is the The Illusion of Free Choice meme?
This black-and-white line drawing shows a cow looking at two separate doorways, framed by the caption "The illusion... ...of free choice." From above you can see that both entrances lead into the same narrow chute, so whichever one the cow picks, it ends up in the same place. Meme versions label the two doorways with options that look different but turn out to be identical: two political parties, two brands owned by the same company, two ways to do homework you still have to do. It is a cynical joke about choices that are no choice at all.
Origin: The cartoon was published by the webcomic Abstruse Goose in 2009 under the title "The Illusion of Free Choice" and became a widely edited image afterward.
Also known as: Cow Two Doors, Illusion of Choice.
How to use the The Illusion of Free Choice meme
The two boxes sit on the front faces of the left and right walls, each labeling one of the doorways. Fill them with two options that pretend to be different. The punchline is already drawn in: both paths merge into one corridor, so you don't need a third caption.
The joke lands best when the options sound distinct at first but share the same outcome. Two cereal brands from one company, "work from home" versus "work from office" when both mean working, two streaming services showing the same ads, or choosing between two exams that are both on Monday.
The Illusion of Free Choice meme ideas
- vim / vim with plugins
- study now / study later
- pay now / pay in 4 installments
- light mode / dark mode
- take the stairs / wait for the elevator
- new phone / last year's phone
About the The Illusion of Free Choice meme template
The The Illusion of Free Choice template (free-choice) supports 2 lines of text. A classic example reads “vim / vim with plugins”. Read about its origin on knowyourmeme.com.
Use it from the API
This meme is also just a URL. Replace the text in the path to generate your own image:
https://memegenscript.com/images/free-choice/vim/vim_with_plugins.png
