diff --git a/django/template/defaulttags.py b/django/template/defaulttags.py
index e8e83ed46e..6c0bf60094 100644
--- a/django/template/defaulttags.py
+++ b/django/template/defaulttags.py
@@ -767,11 +767,15 @@ def firstof(parser, token):
 
         {% firstof var1 var2 var3 "fallback value" %}
 
-    If you want to escape the output, use a filter tag::
+    If you want to disable auto-escaping of variables you can use::
 
-        {% filter force_escape %}
-            {% firstof var1 var2 var3 "fallback value" %}
-        {% endfilter %}
+        {% autoescape off %}
+            {% firstof var1 var2 var3 "<strong>fallback value</strong>" %}
+        {% autoescape %}
+
+    Or if only some variables should be escaped, you can use::
+
+        {% firstof var1 var2|safe var3 "<strong>fallback value</strong>"|safe %}
 
     """
     bits = token.split_contents()[1:]