What is Daily Struggle?

It's a two-panel exploitable comic where a sweaty character hovers over two red buttons labeled with opposing choices, used to depict impossible dilemmas.

Where did Daily Struggle come from?

Animator Jake Clark posted the original comic to his Tumblr on October 25th, 2014, with the buttons labeled 'BE A DICK' and 'DON'T BE A DICK'.

What does Daily Struggle mean?

It captures decision paralysis, using the sweaty character and dual buttons to exaggerate the stakes of any two-option choice.

How do you use Daily Struggle?

People typically swap in their own text on the two buttons, pairing two options that clash or overlap in an awkward way.

Is Daily Struggle still popular?

It's a classic template that saw a second wave of remixes in late 2020, including a Petirep redraw and a 24,000-upvote post on r/dankmemes.

Daily Struggle

2014exploitable comicclassic

Published August 17, 2026

Daily Struggle is a two-panel exploitable comic showing a sweaty character agonizing over two red buttons labeled with opposing choices. Drawn by animator Jake Clark in October 2014, it took off in 2015 after an Imgur repost gave it the name that stuck.

exploitable templates two panel memes choice dilemma memes webcomic memes tumblr memes

Overview

Daily Struggle is a two-panel exploitable comic showing a sweaty, panicked character hovering over two red buttons labeled with opposing choices. The character wipes his brow while agonizing over which one to press, and the joke lives in whatever the button labels say1. The original strip pitched 'BE A DICK' against 'DON'T BE A DICK,' but the template quickly turned into a blank canvas for political jabs, self-deprecating jokes, and fandom arguments2.

Animator Jake Clark drew the character with clear influences from the Sweating Towel Guy illustration and Hank Nova, a face-melting boss from TimeSplitters 23. The comic reads as a caricature of decision paralysis, which is why it works for basically any two-option bind. Readers project their own dilemma onto the buttons, and the exaggerated sweat sells the stakes1.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Tumblr (creation) / Reddit and Imgur (viral spread)

Creator

Jake Clark

Date

2014

Jake Clark posted the strip to his Tumblr blog on October 25th, 2014, and it collected roughly 9,700 notes over the next two years1. The comic had no title at that point. The name 'Daily Struggle' only stuck later, after an Imgur repost gave it a caption that traveled with the image2. Clark has said the character's expression and posture were pulled from earlier meme art rather than drawn from scratch, which he confirmed in a later Reddit thread about the comic's origins3.

How It Spread

The template hit a wider audience on February 1st, 2015, when Imgur user Robban39 uploaded it under the title 'Daily Struggle,' where it drew more than 1.27 million views2. Redditor AcerRubrum reposted the same image to r/funny that day, pulling 3,738 points and 117 comments before the thread archived4. A GIF version soon followed on Imgur, looping the character repeatedly mashing the 'Be a Dick' button3.

Variants swallowed the format through 2015. A 'Tumblr's dilemma' edit on r/funny in March swapped the labels for a jab at gender discourse and cleared 4,400 upvotes3. That June, a version on r/Libertarian aimed the joke at 'proud liberal' gun politics and cleared 3,500 votes before archiving3.

A second wave arrived on November 11th, 2020, when visual artist Petirep posted a redraw on Twitter where the character just presses both buttons and grins in the second panel5. Later that same day, ShaboomBanana posted the first fresh remix on Twitter, and the format bled back onto Reddit. On December 11th, 2020, a version by hardikupreti hit 24,000 upvotes on r/dankmemes6.

How to Use This Meme

Making a Daily Struggle edit is typically as simple as writing two contradictory or overlapping options on the two buttons. The tension has to sit in the labels themselves, since the art stays the same. The common convention pits two things the poster genuinely cannot choose between, either because both are appealing or because both are damning3.