About

Dr. Simi At Concerts refers to a stuffed toy and pop culture symbol in Mexico that went viral on social media in 2021 after people started to throw the toy on the stages of famous musical artists like Lady Gaga, Aurora and Rosália in the hopes that the singer would hold it.

Origin

The mascot Dr. Simi comes from an advertisement for a pharmaceutical company called Farmacia Similaresand represents a caricatured version of an elderly health professional, whose appearance is inspired by the appearance of the famous Mexican film actor Pedro Armendariz Jr.^[1]

According to an article from infobae^[2] published on August 16th, 2022, the mascot was created in the 2000s and popularized by people dressed as Dr. Simi in stores across México.

The trend of throwing Dr. Simi at concerts started on November 21st, 2021, according to a Reddit^[3] post, when the Norwegian singer Aurora^[4] went to Mexico for the Corona Capital Festival and a fan threw her a Dr. Simi stuffed toy. Aurora grabbed and hugged the toy. The video was widely spread on social media. A post by @arlenirigoyen on November 22th, 2021, received 2 million views and 528,000 likes in nine months.

Spread

After the viral video of Aurora hugging the stuffed animal, fans of other artists began to throw the stuffed toy at concerts. Videos showed the stuffed animal being thrown at artists including The Strokes, Coldplay, The Killers, Gorillaz and Maroon 5 received their own Dr. Simi dolls.

On March 26th, 2022, @angievermore decided to bring Dr. Simi to a Coldplay concert in Monterrey, México, and throw it to the lead singer, Chris Martin. He followed the trend and played with the stuffed toy. Her post about the event received 1.7 million views and 429,000 likes in five months.

On May 6th, 2022, YouTuber and TikToker JDanielyt explained why people throw the stuffed toy at concerts, receiving 2 million views and 228,000 likes in three months.

Dr. Simi threw at Lady Gaga’s face

On August 6th, 2022, Lady Gaga was hit in the head by a Dr. Simi doll thrown by a Mexican crowd member during a show in Canada. Fans of the singer weren’t happy with the action of the fan, who later said to Input Magazine^[5] “It was never my intention to hit her in the head. I just wanted her to see the plushy or maybe grab it, but it didn’t go as planned.”

how do some fans think this is okay… this is so dangerous and sad. :( pic.twitter.com/CnmOP88yOF

— jo🌈🎀🥰✨haus labs heaux (@jomaticaaa) August 7, 2022

MotoSimi

Dr. Simi also appeared at Rosalía's own stage during her first show in Mexico on August 14th, 2022. Fans started to use the name MotoSimi, in reference to her latest album “Motomami”, and they threw several stuffed toys at her stage, which she held as much as she could and shared with fans on her Motomami World Tour.

The official account of the pharmacy’s mascot, @drsimi_oficial, shared on August 16th, 2022 a video showing the Spanish singer holding the stuffed toys. The post received 1.9 million views and 362,000 likes in three days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References