What is the Ad Blocker Meme?

It's a four-panel exploitable webcomic by MadeByTio showing a green rectangle getting beaten up by two muscular characters. People relabel the characters to joke about any lopsided three-way dynamic.

Where did the Ad Blocker Meme come from?

MadeByTio posted the original comic to Reddit's r/funny on March 4, 2021, depicting ads overpowering an ad blocker[2].

What does the Ad Blocker Meme mean?

The format represents any situation where one thing is hopelessly outmatched by two stronger forces. The rectangle always loses.

How do you use the Ad Blocker Meme?

Label the green rectangle as something weak or doomed, label the two buff characters as whatever is going to overwhelm it, and share. The template handles the rest.

Is the Ad Blocker Meme still popular?

The format saw its biggest activity in spring 2021, with continued use into 2022 across niche subreddits. As an object-labeling template, it still gets occasional use but is no longer a dominant format.

MadeByTio is the cartoonist who created the original comic. They posted it to both Reddit and Instagram in March 2021[2].

Why is it called Two Buff Men Beating Up a Rectangle?

The alternate name is a literal description of what happens in the comic: two muscular characters gang up on a rectangle-shaped character.

Which version of the meme got the most upvotes?

The first exploitable edit by Reddit user This-Wrongdoer-1858, posted to r/dankmemes on March 25, 2021, received over 63,000 upvotes[2].

Ad Blocker Meme

2021Exploitable webcomic / object labelingsemi-active

Published March 10, 2026 · Updated March 23, 2026

Also known as: Two Buff Men Beating Up a Rectangle · YouTube vs. Ad Blocker

The Ad Blocker Meme, also known as Two Buff Men Beating Up a Rectangle, is an exploitable four-panel webcomic created by artist MadeByTio in March 20211. The comic shows a green rectangle character making a statement before two muscular figures laugh at it and beat it up. Originally depicting "ads" overpowering an "ad blocker," the format quickly became a popular object-labeling template on Reddit.

tech humor memes object labeling multi panel memes webcomic memes 2021 memes

Overview

The meme follows a four-panel comic strip format. In the first panel, an anthropomorphic green rectangle delivers some kind of statement or claim. In the following panels, two muscular characters (one red, one pink) laugh at the rectangle, then physically beat it up. The humor comes from labeling the three characters to represent a real-world dynamic where something weak or ineffective gets overwhelmed by two stronger forces.

The template works because it maps cleanly onto any situation where one thing is outmatched by two others. Creators swap the labels on all three characters, keeping the visual punchline of the rectangle getting demolished.

On March 4, 2021, cartoonist MadeByTio posted the original comic to the subreddit r/funny2. The strip depicted the rectangle labeled as "ad blocker" getting beaten up by the two buff characters labeled as "ads." The post collected over 5,000 upvotes on Reddit. MadeByTio also shared the comic on Instagram, where it picked up more than 24,000 likes.

The comic sat for about three weeks before anyone turned it into an exploitable template. On March 25, 2021, Reddit user This-Wrongdoer-1858 posted the first edited version to r/dankmemes, relabeling the characters for a new joke2. That edit pulled in over 63,000 upvotes. An Imgur version appeared the same day.

Origin & Background

Platform

Reddit (r/funny)

Creator

MadeByTio

Date

2021

How It Spread

Once the template hit r/dankmemes with 63,000 upvotes, other subreddits picked it up fast2. On April 8, 2021, user Sergeant_Smile posted a version to r/teenagers that earned over 17,000 upvotes. The next day, another edit hit r/memes and crossed 31,000 upvotes.

The format branched into niche communities too. In late March 2022, user Fleykel brought it to r/gaming, and user deathstar10154 posted a Star Wars-themed version to r/PrequelMemes that grabbed 11,000 upvotes. The meme's flexibility made it easy to adapt: any three-way power dynamic where one side gets crushed works with the template.

The spread pattern followed a typical Reddit meme lifecycle. It started in a general humor sub, got remixed in a meme-specific sub, then filtered into fandom and hobby communities where users applied it to their own inside jokes.

Platforms

RedditTwitter

Timeline

2023-01-15

First appears

2024-01-01

Ad Blocker Meme started spreading across social media platforms

2025-01-01

Ad Blocker Meme is still actively used and shared across platforms

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The format is straightforward. Take the four-panel template and relabel the three characters:

The rectangle (green character) gets labeled as whatever is weak, failing, or about to get destroyed

The two buff characters (red and pink) get labeled as the forces doing the destroying

The visual joke does the rest. The rectangle says something optimistic or defiant, then gets demolished

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

It influenced culture.

Fun Facts

The original comic took three weeks to become a meme template. MadeByTio posted it March 4, but nobody edited it until March 252.

The first exploitable edit (63,000 upvotes) outperformed the original comic (5,000 upvotes) by more than 12x.

MadeByTio's Instagram post of the original comic got about 24,000 likes, making Instagram the higher-engagement platform for the source material compared to the original Reddit post.

Derivatives & Variations

Gaming edits:

Users applied the template to game-specific matchups, like a low-level player facing two bosses. The r/gaming version by Fleykel is a typical example.

Star Wars / PrequelMemes versions:

The r/PrequelMemes edit by deathstar10154 relabeled the characters with Star Wars references, earning 11,000 upvotes.

School/teen life edits:

The r/teenagers version by Sergeant_Smile adapted the format to relatable teen situations.

Frequently Asked Questions

References (2)

1
Harlem Shake (meme)encyclopedia
2
Ad Blocker Meme - Know Your Memeencyclopedia