diff --git a/examples/ticks_and_spines/centered_ticklabels.py b/examples/ticks_and_spines/centered_ticklabels.py
index 3e59f2966f4a..308ac3bb1121 100644
--- a/examples/ticks_and_spines/centered_ticklabels.py
+++ b/examples/ticks_and_spines/centered_ticklabels.py
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@
 associates a label with a tick, and the label can be aligned
 'center', 'left', or 'right' using the horizontal alignment property::
 
-    ax.xaxis.set_tick_params(horizontalalignment='right')
+    for label in ax.xaxis.get_xticklabels():
+        label.set_horizontalalignment('right')
 
 but this doesn't help center the label between ticks.  One solution
 is to "fake it".  Use the minor ticks to place a tick centered