'I hate Dr. Simi': Mexican mascot sets off a bizarre viral trend targeting world-renown musicians
A stuffed toy known as Dr. Simi has become a wildly famous pop culture symbol in Mexico, often going viral thanks to people hurling it at famous musical artists on stage. And Vice.com wants to know why.
“Why Do People Keep Throwing This Bald Doll at Celebrities?” Vice, a Canadian-American magazine, is asking on its website. “The bizarre story of the Dr. Simi mascot trend from a discount Mexican pharmacy includes everyone from Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, to Coldplay and Dua Lipa.”
As Vice explains, Dr. Simi is the mustachioed (and bald) mascot of a discount off-brand Mexican chain of pharmacies known as Similares. The company “is getting some of the best free publicity in modern history,” Vice reported.
Here’s more from Vice:”
“Every Mexican has come to recognize the boisterous oversized doctor mascot that dances in front of the thousands of Similares pharmacy locations around the country since its inception 25 years ago. But it was only recently people started hurling them at concerts, and what started as a fad in Mexico has gone global.”
Getting pelted with Dr. Simi dolls has evoked quite a divergent set of responses from famous music artists. Vice laid out a few of them:
“As Lady Gaga sang a particularly dramatic moment of the song “Hold My Hand” during a recent summer concert in Toronto, a small stuffed toy soared over the crowd, and smacked her in the head. She gamely kept on singing.”
And in Monterrey, Mexico, “Harry Styles busted moves with a Dr. Simi doll after catching it midair, clutching it to his chest and swaying his hips. Dua Lipa picked a Dr. Simi doll up mid-concert to briefly serenade it, and a shirtless Justin Bieber gave the doll a brief side eye and kicked it off stage.”
At least one famous artist was not amused, Vice reports.
“Rubén Albarrán, the lead singer from Café Tacvba, one of Mexico’s biggest bands, bit the doll’s head off during a concert in Belgium, sparking controversy in Mexico. The video went viral, prompting many to question the value of the growing tradition, and whether it was a point of pride for the nation or an embarrassment.
“‘I hate Dr. Simi,’ Albarrán said in Spanish before ripping the doll's head off to the cheering, albeit seemingly confused, mostly European crowd. ‘You wanted blood,’ he said, throwing Simi’s severed head back into the audience with his teeth.”
A Farmacias Similares video advertisement featuring mascot Dr. Simi can be seen below or at this link.
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