Who Wants Change Meme Template
About this meme
This iconic two-panel political cartoon was created by illustrator Will McPhail for The New Yorker (and widely syndicated across editorial publications).
In the original cartoon, a speaker behind a podium addresses a crowded room. In the top panel, he asks: "Who wants change?"—prompting every single person in the audience to enthusiastically raise their hands. In the bottom panel, he asks: "Who wants to change?"—and the room instantly goes dead silent, with everyone lowering their hands and staring down at the floor in awkward discomfort.
The comic became one of the most famous web and editorial meme templates of all time, blowing up across Reddit (r/memes, r/dankmemes, r/me_irl, r/funny), Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Discord. It is universally used as a blank-bubble template to contrast hypocritical enthusiasm for an outcome versus total unwillingness to do the actual work required to achieve it.
Hypocrisy, collective enthusiasm vs. personal effort, awkward silence, universal relatability, and social commentary.
- Left Side (The Speaker): A balding speaker in a suit standing behind a podium (featuring a UN-style circular emblem) with one finger raised in the air, speaking into a large blank speech bubble.
- Top Panel (Hyped Crowd): A dense crowd of men and women smiling eagerly with both arms thrust high into the air, ready to vote "yes."
- Bottom Panel (Deflated Crowd): The exact same crowd with all hands lowered, heads tilted downward, eyes looking away nervously, and a tiny fly buzzing through the silent air space.
The image displays a two-panel stacked webcomic template with empty white speech bubbles extending from a podium speaker on the left. In the top panel, a man in a brown suit speaks from behind a blue-and-white emblem podium, while a large audience of cartoon men and women eagerly raise their hands with enthusiastic smiles. In the lower panel, the speaker addresses the crowd again, but the entire audience has lowered their hands, slumping forward with nervous, guilty expressions while total silence falls over the room.
