# Getting Mugged? Just Say No
Posted to r/ShittyLifeProTips in December 2018, this image macro offered absurd legal advice stamped on a stock photo of a man being robbed, claiming a mugger "legally cannot" take your possessions without consent. By September 2019, Redditors were rewriting the caption as "Getting banned? Just say no" and feeding the format into history memes and COVID-19 jokes.
## Origin
On December 2nd, 2018, Redditor PM_ME_TIGER_BUTTS posted the macro to r/ShittyLifeProTips with the title "SLPT: Avoid getting mugged," where it collected over 21,400 upvotes[1]. The image used a Shutterstock stock photo of a staged armed robbery against a white background as its base[2].
Within a day, the macro spread off Reddit. On December 3rd, 2018, the Facebook page Being Libertarian reposted it to its following, where it drew more than 8,700 reactions and 15,000 shares over the next three years[3]. The December 5th, 2018 post from an anonymous Redditor to r/PewdiepieSubmissions, which paired the image with a "Rate Drops to 0" meme, is the earliest known edit of the format[4].
- **Platform:** Reddit (r/ShittyLifeProTips)
- **Creator:** PM_ME_TIGER_BUTTS
- **Date:** 2018
## Overview
The joke rests on pretending that mugging is a consensual contract. Over a stock image of a casually dressed man surrendering his wallet to an armed robber, the caption reads "Getting mugged? Just say no. Your robber legally cannot take any of your possessions without your consent"[1]. The humor comes from applying consent language, usually associated with sex education or sales calls, to a violent crime where consent is irrelevant[3].
The stock photo itself, titled "armed robbery backgound, casual man and businessman on white," is a Shutterstock asset that predates the meme and shows the victim handing over money against a plain white background[2]. Variants typically keep that image intact and only edit the caption, swapping "mugged" for whatever situation the poster wants to deflect, from bans and arrests to disease. Libertarian pages picked up the original wording for actual political framing of property rights, including a widely shared Facebook post from Being Libertarian[3].
Later snowclone versions sometimes photoshopped the victim's wallet or the robber's gun into other objects to match the new caption, while others left the image untouched and relied on the caption alone to carry the joke[4].
## How It Spread
Through late 2018 and early 2019, the macro moved across Imgur, Instagram and various Facebook pages while staying close to its original caption[3]. On April 28th, 2019, the Facebook page The Janglee Movement published a version retitled "Getting robbed?" that cited Pakistani penal code in place of the generic consent gag, picking up over 1,400 likes[1]. That same day, the Libertarian Party of Colorado shared a cropped recaption that drew its own round of engagement[1].
The format shifted into a full phrasal template starting in September 2019. An unattributed "Getting banned? Just say no" edit went viral on iFunny that month[8]. On September 27th, 2019, Redditor matek12ash posted a history meme using the template to r/HistoryMemes, where it collected over 6,900 upvotes[5]. The structure kept working for topical jokes into the pandemic: on February 27th, 2020, Redditor Retro_RL posted a COVID-19 version to r/me_irl that reached over 62,400 upvotes before being removed[6].
Use of the snowclone stayed active through 2021 and 2022 on Reddit and Facebook, with new captions appearing whenever an undesired event (a tax, a ticket, a diagnosis) could be reframed as something you could simply refuse[7].
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Getting Mugged? Just Say No?
It is a December 2018 image macro from r/ShittyLifeProTips arguing, as absurd mock legal advice, that a mugger cannot take your possessions "without your consent"[1].
### Where did Getting Mugged? Just Say No come from?
Redditor PM_ME_TIGER_BUTTS posted the macro to r/ShittyLifeProTips on December 2nd, 2018, over a Shutterstock stock photo of a staged armed robbery[1][2].
### What does Getting Mugged? Just Say No mean?
The joke applies consent language to a violent crime, treating a mugging as a transaction the victim can decline, a framing Being Libertarian and other pages later used for property-rights humor[3].
### How do you use Getting Mugged? Just Say No?
People commonly swap "mugged" for another unwanted event, as in "Getting banned? Just say no" or "Getting [COVID]? Just say no," and keep or lightly edit the robbery photo[6][8].
### Is Getting Mugged? Just Say No still popular?
The macro faded from its 2018 to 2020 peak but stayed in rotation as a snowclone on Reddit and Facebook through 2021 and 2022[7].
## References
1. [https://www.reddit.com/r/ShittyLifeProTips/comments/a2fk37/slpt_avoid_getting_mugged/]()
2. [https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/armed-robbery-backgound-casual-man-businessman-58485496]()
3. [https://www.facebook.com/beinglibertarian/photos/a.256552551217454/986767774862591]()
4. [https://www.reddit.com/r/PewdiepieSubmissions/comments/a3at4q/swiper_no_swiping/]()
5. [https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryMemes/comments/d9zccl/just_no/]()
6. [https://www.reddit.com/r/me_irl/comments/faadb9/me_irl/]()
7. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/getting-mugged-just-say-no]()
8. [https://ifunny.co/picture/getting-banned-just-say-no-without-your-consent-JCZzRg337]()
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Source: https://meme.com/memes/getting-mugged-just-say-no
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