About

RGB Lights refers to the stereotype and market trend of PC gaming peripherals and components that have red, green and blue (RGB) LED lights on them. Memes and jokes referencing RGB lights first appeared online poking fun at how products are starting to have RGB lighting, before turning into memes about how overdone RGB lights are and how they're either a detriment to the system as a whole or largely unnecessary and inescapable for those who don't want them.

Origin

RGB lights began to appear in products from Razer and Corsair with the lights shown as a way of marketing the items and setting them apart from others. In late 2016, RGB products began to appear in compontnets beyond peripherals like mice and keyboards, with a Reddit post created by Redditor u/ArbyCreeper^[1] being made on June 11th, 2016, talking about the first RGB-enabled PSU unit, showing disgust at what RGB might be doing next. Memes about RGB lighting started to be made on August 30th, 2016, with the post uploaded by Redditor u/PMmeyourRGB^[2] who uploaded a fake product page for a Corsair RGB-enabled butt plug (shown below).

Spread

Memes about RGB quickly started to spread in the following months, with gamers becoming skeptical over their inclusion in various PC parts. For example, on December 31st, 2018, Redditor u/DarkNuon^[3] uploaded a variation of the Evolution Can You Give Me Wings meme in which PC companies are asking consumers if they'd like faster PC parts before deciding to give them RGB everything instead (shown below).

Over the next years, RGB memes continued to spread and change in their intent, with later RGB memes in 2022 mocking the gamers who continue to buy the products and showcase large displays of RGB-enabled gear. On January 13th, 2022, the Facebook page META PCs^[4] uploaded a SpongeBob's Wallet meme in which it shows SpongeBob being upset at a normal keyboard but gladly paying for an RGB keyboard (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References