It's okay to be white meme
✕ Risky for brands. The meme is deeply associated with alt-right ideology and organized trolling, making it highly inappropriate and controversial for any business.
What does the It's okay to be white meme mean?
This slogan originated as a trolling campaign on 4chan and is used by alt-right groups, often to provoke reactions and highlight perceived media bias.
Where did It's okay to be white come from?
"It's okay to be white" (IOTBW) is an alt-right slogan which originated as part of an organized trolling campaign on the website 4chan's discussion board /pol/ in 2017. A /pol/ user described it as a proof of concept that an otherwise innocuous message could be used maliciously to spark media backlash.
Is the It's okay to be white meme dead?
Less than it was. It's okay to be white is fading: its rate of reads of its Wikipedia article has slowed by more than 15% compared with the period before. Its current rate is 1% of its peak, which came in the period ending Apr 1, 2023.
The Wikipedia article on It's okay to be white was read 73 times in November 2026, and 458,265 times since July 2015. Its busiest measured month ended Apr 1, 2023 at 881 reads per day.
Stats
| Busiest month | February 2023 (30,443 reads) |
| Reads, last 12 months | 48,865 |
| Reads, 12 months before | 69,395 |
| Change year on year | -30% |
| All-time reads since July 2015 | 458,265 |
| Current rate vs peak | 1% of the peak in the period ending Apr 1, 2023 |
It's okay to be white captions for businesses
| real estate | It's okay to be a homeowner / And we can help you get there! |
| dentists | It's okay to have sensitive teeth / We have solutions that work! |
| restaurants | It's okay to crave comfort food / Our menu is here for you! |
| fitness studios | It's okay to start small / Every step counts towards your goals! |
| software startups | It's okay to have a complex problem / Our software makes it simple! |
| coffee shops | It's okay to need a pick-me-up / We've got your perfect brew! |
| hair salons | It's okay to want a change / Let us transform your look! |
| accountants | It's okay to find taxes confusing / We'll make sense of it for you! |
More questions
Can a business post the It's okay to be white meme?
Be careful. The meme is deeply associated with alt-right ideology and organized trolling, making it highly inappropriate and controversial for any business. memeidea's brand-safety calls are AI-assisted suggestions, so check how the format is being used this week before posting.
What is a good It's okay to be white caption for a business?
For real estate: “It's okay to be a homeowner / And we can help you get there!”. For dentists: “It's okay to have sensitive teeth / We have solutions that work!”. For restaurants: “It's okay to crave comfort food / Our menu is here for you!”. More captions are in the table above.
Sources
- Wikipedia: It's okay to be white: article and page-view counts (Wikimedia API)
- Know Your Meme: origin and spread
- memeidea method: how stages and momentum are measured
