Unpopular Opinion Puffin

2013Image macro / advice animalsemi-active

Also known as: UOP · UO Puffin

Unpopular Opinion Puffin is a 2013 advice animal image macro of a baby puffin, used to express opinions the poster claimed were unpopular despite frequently being mainstream perspectives.

Unpopular Opinion Puffin is an advice animal image macro featuring a photograph of a baby puffin, used to express opinions the poster believes are unpopular. It originated on Reddit's r/AdviceAnimals in July 2013 as an alternative to Confession Bear and quickly became one of the most divisive meme formats of the mid-2010s, with critics pointing out that the "unpopular" opinions were usually anything but.

advice animalsimage macro memesreddit memesearly 2010s memesopinion memes

Overview

Unpopular Opinion Puffin uses a photo of a baby Atlantic puffin walking with an awkward gait, captioned with top-and-bottom Impact font text expressing an opinion the poster considers unpopular or controversial. The format follows the standard advice animal template: the top text sets up the context and the bottom text delivers the opinion. In practice, the meme became notorious for being used to voice opinions that were actually quite popular, especially on Reddit, turning it into an unintentional vehicle for validation-seeking rather than genuine contrarianism1.

The source photograph was taken by Andreas Mulder, a student in the Netherlands, and was originally titled "Silly Walk" after the puffin's distinctive stride3. The image appeared online as early as July 2010 on That Cute Site3. It circulated as a cute animal photo across several subreddits in 2012, including r/aww, r/pics, and r/PhotoshopBattles, before anyone thought to turn it into a meme template3.

On July 24, 2013, an Imgur user named Daemoos submitted the image to Reddit's r/AdviceAnimals as a proposed alternative to Confession Bear3. At the time, Confession Bear was being heavily criticized on the subreddit because users kept posting opinions disguised as confessions rather than actual confessions. Daemoos suggested this puffin photo could serve as a dedicated format for sharing unpopular opinions instead3.

Origin & Background

Platform
That Cute Site (source photo, 2010), Reddit r/AdviceAnimals (meme format, 2013)
Key People
Andreas Mulder, Daemoos
Date
2013

The source photograph was taken by Andreas Mulder, a student in the Netherlands, and was originally titled "Silly Walk" after the puffin's distinctive stride. The image appeared online as early as July 2010 on That Cute Site. It circulated as a cute animal photo across several subreddits in 2012, including r/aww, r/pics, and r/PhotoshopBattles, before anyone thought to turn it into a meme template.

On July 24, 2013, an Imgur user named Daemoos submitted the image to Reddit's r/AdviceAnimals as a proposed alternative to Confession Bear. At the time, Confession Bear was being heavily criticized on the subreddit because users kept posting opinions disguised as confessions rather than actual confessions. Daemoos suggested this puffin photo could serve as a dedicated format for sharing unpopular opinions instead.

How It Spread

The format caught on quickly within r/AdviceAnimals. On August 23, 2013, an Unpopular Opinion Puffin post supporting the announcement of Ben Affleck's casting as Batman hit Reddit's front page, pulling in more than 22,000 upvotes and 900 comments within two months. By late September 2013, the dedicated subreddit r/UOPuffin had been created.

Through October 2013, the meme spread beyond Reddit to 9gag, Meme Dad, Memebase, and FunnyJunk. By that point, Reddit search results for the format exceeded 250 entries, and more than 450 versions had been submitted to MemeGen. Memebase's Cheezburger network aggregated numerous examples, with popular entries including meta-commentary about the format itself and hot takes on topics like gift cards, video games, and college education.

The meme's popularity peaked through 2013-2014, but it drew increasing backlash. The core complaint, echoed across multiple platforms, was simple: the opinions posted were rarely unpopular. Users on forums like Meh openly mocked the format, noting that "It's never an unpopular opinion" and grouping it alongside other tired advice animals like Awkward Penguin and misused Confession Bears. The format also drew criticism for being weaponized to express genuinely bigoted or inflammatory views under the shield of "just sharing an unpopular opinion."

In May 2014, the moderators of r/AdviceAnimals banned Unpopular Opinion Puffin from the subreddit entirely, citing its frequent use to push racist, sexist, and otherwise hateful content disguised as harmless opinion-sharing. The ban was one of the more notable instances of a major subreddit killing off a specific meme format.

How to Use This Meme

The format typically follows these steps:

1

Pick an opinion you believe goes against the mainstream or popular consensus

2

Place the setup or topic on the top line (e.g., "I THINK TIPPING CULTURE")

3

Put the actual opinion on the bottom line (e.g., "SHOULD BE ABOLISHED")

4

Use the standard puffin image with Impact font

Cultural Impact

Unpopular Opinion Puffin became a case study in how meme formats can be subverted by their own communities. The format was designed to encourage dissent but instead became a vehicle for consensus opinions seeking validation. Its 2014 ban from r/AdviceAnimals marked a significant moment in Reddit moderation history, as one of the first times a popular meme template was removed not for being stale but for enabling harmful content.

The meme also highlighted the "Confession Bear problem," where multiple advice animal formats kept collapsing into the same function: letting users post opinions with plausible deniability. Forum users noted that Confession Bear was frequently "used as unpopular opinion puffin" and that neither format actually delivered what it promised.

Fun Facts

The original photo was included in a photography book before it ever became a meme, with the title "Silly Walk" referencing the puffin's distinctive waddle.

The photographer Andreas Mulder's identity was confirmed through an email sent to Know Your Meme by the Imgur user Daemoos, who tracked down the source.

Atlantic puffins are sometimes called "clowns of the sea" due to their colorful beaks during breeding season, which adds an unintentional layer of irony to a meme about serious opinion-sharing.

The image circulated as a cute animal photo for three full years (2010-2013) before anyone thought to caption it.

Puffins beat their wings up to 400 times per minute in flight, making the baby puffin in the photo one of the most aerodynamically impressive advice animals.

Derivatives & Variations

Confession Bear crossover:

Users frequently used Confession Bear to express unpopular opinions rather than confessions, effectively creating a parallel format that drew direct comparisons and criticism[1][3].

Meta puffin posts:

Self-referential versions where the "unpopular opinion" was that the meme itself should be retired, creating a recursive loop that frustrated and amused in equal measure[2].

r/UOPuffin subreddit:

A dedicated community created in September 2013 to collect and discuss the best (and worst) examples of the format[3].

Frequently Asked Questions

Unpopular Opinion Puffin

2013Image macro / advice animalsemi-active

Also known as: UOP · UO Puffin

Unpopular Opinion Puffin is a 2013 advice animal image macro of a baby puffin, used to express opinions the poster claimed were unpopular despite frequently being mainstream perspectives.

Unpopular Opinion Puffin is an advice animal image macro featuring a photograph of a baby puffin, used to express opinions the poster believes are unpopular. It originated on Reddit's r/AdviceAnimals in July 2013 as an alternative to Confession Bear and quickly became one of the most divisive meme formats of the mid-2010s, with critics pointing out that the "unpopular" opinions were usually anything but.

advice animals image macro memes reddit memes early 2010s memes opinion memes

Overview

Unpopular Opinion Puffin uses a photo of a baby Atlantic puffin walking with an awkward gait, captioned with top-and-bottom Impact font text expressing an opinion the poster considers unpopular or controversial. The format follows the standard advice animal template: the top text sets up the context and the bottom text delivers the opinion. In practice, the meme became notorious for being used to voice opinions that were actually quite popular, especially on Reddit, turning it into an unintentional vehicle for validation-seeking rather than genuine contrarianism.

The source photograph was taken by Andreas Mulder, a student in the Netherlands, and was originally titled "Silly Walk" after the puffin's distinctive stride. The image appeared online as early as July 2010 on That Cute Site. It circulated as a cute animal photo across several subreddits in 2012, including r/aww, r/pics, and r/PhotoshopBattles, before anyone thought to turn it into a meme template.

On July 24, 2013, an Imgur user named Daemoos submitted the image to Reddit's r/AdviceAnimals as a proposed alternative to Confession Bear. At the time, Confession Bear was being heavily criticized on the subreddit because users kept posting opinions disguised as confessions rather than actual confessions. Daemoos suggested this puffin photo could serve as a dedicated format for sharing unpopular opinions instead.

Origin & Background

Platform
That Cute Site (source photo, 2010), Reddit r/AdviceAnimals (meme format, 2013)
Key People
Andreas Mulder, Daemoos
Date
2013

The source photograph was taken by Andreas Mulder, a student in the Netherlands, and was originally titled "Silly Walk" after the puffin's distinctive stride. The image appeared online as early as July 2010 on That Cute Site. It circulated as a cute animal photo across several subreddits in 2012, including r/aww, r/pics, and r/PhotoshopBattles, before anyone thought to turn it into a meme template.

On July 24, 2013, an Imgur user named Daemoos submitted the image to Reddit's r/AdviceAnimals as a proposed alternative to Confession Bear. At the time, Confession Bear was being heavily criticized on the subreddit because users kept posting opinions disguised as confessions rather than actual confessions. Daemoos suggested this puffin photo could serve as a dedicated format for sharing unpopular opinions instead.

How It Spread

The format caught on quickly within r/AdviceAnimals. On August 23, 2013, an Unpopular Opinion Puffin post supporting the announcement of Ben Affleck's casting as Batman hit Reddit's front page, pulling in more than 22,000 upvotes and 900 comments within two months. By late September 2013, the dedicated subreddit r/UOPuffin had been created.

Through October 2013, the meme spread beyond Reddit to 9gag, Meme Dad, Memebase, and FunnyJunk. By that point, Reddit search results for the format exceeded 250 entries, and more than 450 versions had been submitted to MemeGen. Memebase's Cheezburger network aggregated numerous examples, with popular entries including meta-commentary about the format itself and hot takes on topics like gift cards, video games, and college education.

The meme's popularity peaked through 2013-2014, but it drew increasing backlash. The core complaint, echoed across multiple platforms, was simple: the opinions posted were rarely unpopular. Users on forums like Meh openly mocked the format, noting that "It's never an unpopular opinion" and grouping it alongside other tired advice animals like Awkward Penguin and misused Confession Bears. The format also drew criticism for being weaponized to express genuinely bigoted or inflammatory views under the shield of "just sharing an unpopular opinion."

In May 2014, the moderators of r/AdviceAnimals banned Unpopular Opinion Puffin from the subreddit entirely, citing its frequent use to push racist, sexist, and otherwise hateful content disguised as harmless opinion-sharing. The ban was one of the more notable instances of a major subreddit killing off a specific meme format.

How to Use This Meme

The format typically follows these steps:

1

Pick an opinion you believe goes against the mainstream or popular consensus

2

Place the setup or topic on the top line (e.g., "I THINK TIPPING CULTURE")

3

Put the actual opinion on the bottom line (e.g., "SHOULD BE ABOLISHED")

4

Use the standard puffin image with Impact font

Cultural Impact

Unpopular Opinion Puffin became a case study in how meme formats can be subverted by their own communities. The format was designed to encourage dissent but instead became a vehicle for consensus opinions seeking validation. Its 2014 ban from r/AdviceAnimals marked a significant moment in Reddit moderation history, as one of the first times a popular meme template was removed not for being stale but for enabling harmful content.

The meme also highlighted the "Confession Bear problem," where multiple advice animal formats kept collapsing into the same function: letting users post opinions with plausible deniability. Forum users noted that Confession Bear was frequently "used as unpopular opinion puffin" and that neither format actually delivered what it promised.

Fun Facts

The original photo was included in a photography book before it ever became a meme, with the title "Silly Walk" referencing the puffin's distinctive waddle.

The photographer Andreas Mulder's identity was confirmed through an email sent to Know Your Meme by the Imgur user Daemoos, who tracked down the source.

Atlantic puffins are sometimes called "clowns of the sea" due to their colorful beaks during breeding season, which adds an unintentional layer of irony to a meme about serious opinion-sharing.

The image circulated as a cute animal photo for three full years (2010-2013) before anyone thought to caption it.

Puffins beat their wings up to 400 times per minute in flight, making the baby puffin in the photo one of the most aerodynamically impressive advice animals.

Derivatives & Variations

Confession Bear crossover:

Users frequently used Confession Bear to express unpopular opinions rather than confessions, effectively creating a parallel format that drew direct comparisons and criticism[1][3].

Meta puffin posts:

Self-referential versions where the "unpopular opinion" was that the meme itself should be retired, creating a recursive loop that frustrated and amused in equal measure[2].

r/UOPuffin subreddit:

A dedicated community created in September 2013 to collect and discuss the best (and worst) examples of the format[3].

Frequently Asked Questions