DEEP DIVE

This anti-meme plays with the simple, silly fact that moths will relentlessly fly towards lightbulbs, even when it kills them. Interestingly, it is not entirely clear why moths fly towards artificial light.

For many, this meme has been an excuse to revisit forgotten meme formats, adjusting them with the same punchline: moths love lamps. The moth lamp meme’s popularity may signify a growing trend of anti-memes, or just that people think moths stupidly flying to their deaths by lamp is funny.

There’s even a Reddit page dedicated to moth memes with over 2,200 subscribers.

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moth compilation

A post shared by Darcie Wilder (@cumcumcumcumcumcumcumcum) on Sep 22, 2018 at 8:52pm PDT

Lämp, Brœther from r/dankmemes

REVIVAL OF OLD TEMPLATE WITH NEW HOT MEME! INVEST NOW OR REGRET IT IN 4 HOURS from r/MemeEconomy

give me lamps brother from r/dankmemes

Le håly låmp from r/dankmemes

Dragging up old templates to make moth memes is in!! Invest! from r/MemeEconomy

why am I crying over moth memes rn pic.twitter.com/h02lBJkBKu

— picnic runway goth (@micqueladoyle) September 21, 2018

pic.twitter.com/82RSDS051B

— a͟l͟e͟x͟i͟s͟ (@stomachscold) July 28, 2018