Why Not Both? — Young girl in pink dress with subtitle reading 'Why don't we have both?' from Old El Paso commercial

Why Not Both?

2011reaction imageclassic

Published October 5, 2026

Why Not Both?, also known as Why Don't We Have Both?, is a reaction image and catchphrase pulled from an Old El Paso taco commercial where a young girl shrugs off an either-or argument with a simple compromise. The line jumped from TV ad to image macro in 2011 and became the internet's shorthand for refusing to pick between two options.

catchphrase memes reaction memes advertising memes choice dilemma memes multi panel memes

Overview

Why Not Both?, also written as Why Don't We Have Both?, is a reaction image built around a still of a young girl shrugging in an Old El Paso taco commercial3. The joke relies on reframing any binary choice, hard tacos or soft, two band members, two fandoms, as a false dilemma that can be solved by taking both options at once1.

The format usually appears as a multi-pane image macro: two competing choices stacked on top, followed by the shrugging girl at the bottom with the caption 'Why not both?' or a close variant2. Users also deploy the still as a standalone reaction image when a thread turns into an either-or argument, and the phrase itself travels without the picture as a plain text comeback4.

Origin & Background

Platform
TV commercial (source); FunnyJunk / Reddit (viral spread)
Date
2011

The line comes from an Old El Paso at-home taco kit commercial that packaged both hard shells and soft tortillas in a single box. In the ad, a group of Spanish-speaking adults argue over which type of taco is better until a young girl ends the debate with a shrug and the question 'Why not both?'5. The commercial aired on Australian TV at least as early as 20065, and online complaints about the spot showed up on CommercialsIHate.com in September 20093.

The clip was turned into a meme format in mid-2011. On June 30th, 2011, a FunnyJunk user posted one of the earliest known image macros using the shrug still, pairing it with a screencap from the Nickelodeon show Yo Gabba Gabba1. A second early macro surfaced on the Cheezburger-run Comixed site on July 21st, 2011, built around a joke about choosing between Justin Bieber and Rebecca Black3.

How It Spread

After the first FunnyJunk post, the Yo Gabba Gabba multi-pane edit was reposted to the r/Drugs subreddit on August 12th, 2011, where it picked up 35 upvotes2. Tumblr users started sharing 'Why Not Both' reaction images in October 2011, with blog lethargiclogic posting an early example3.

The format hit scale through meme-generator sites in 2012. A dedicated Quickmeme page launched in January 2012 and collected around 3,300 submissions by May 20133. Through 2012 the image moved across subreddits including r/Trees6 and r/Funny7, and showed up on humor aggregators like The Meta Picture8 and Meme Center4. In December 2012, a Meme Generator template titled 'Why Not Both Girl' went up and racked up more than 400 submissions over the next five months3.

The commercial itself remained the identity hook for the meme. The off-screen identity of the child model never became public, and a Facebook fan page for her, launched June 23rd, 2010, treated her anonymity as part of the joke3.

Timeline

2006

Old El Paso 'Why not both?' taco commercial airs on Australian TV[5].

2009-09

The ad is discussed on CommercialsIHate.com, the earliest known online mention[3].

2010-06-23

A Facebook fan page for the unnamed girl in the commercial is created[3].

How to Use This Meme

The format typically opens with two options presented as a forced choice, visual or textual, and resolves with the shrugging girl captioned 'Why not both?' or 'Why don't we have both?'. A common convention is to use it in reply threads when someone frames a debate as either-or, letting the image act as a one-panel punchline. The phrase often travels without the picture at all and works as a plain-text comeback.

Frequently Asked Questions