About

Shingles Doesn't Care is a catchphrase that comes from part of a 30-second TV commercial for SHINGRIX, which is a vaccine for the prevention of shingles (herpes zoster). The advertisement has been present online since early 2018 but only became the subject of memes in 2022 when the catchphrase featured in the commercial was added as a caption in image macro memes on iFunny, Reddit and X / Twitter.

Origin

On November 9th, 2018, SHINGRIX Canada^[1] uploaded a 30-second TV commercial titled "Shingles Doesn't Care," which features a series of people doing daily activities as a narrator cuts to them with the phrase, "Shingles doesn't care," to warn them of the danger of shingles. The video (seen below) amassed over 41,000 views in six years.

Spread

The earliest memetic usage of the "Shingles Doesn't Care" ad was posted on X^[2] by user @desusnice, who tweeted, "Reminder, SHINGLES DOESN'T CARE" (seen below) on December 3rd, 2020. The post amassed roughly 1,000 likes and 90 reposts in four years.

The catchphrase "shingles doesn't care" resurfaced in September 2024 after some netizens noticed the phrase being used randomly during the broadcast of the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 15th, 2024.

For instance, that same day, X^[3] user @SpencerAlthouse uploaded a clip showing the moment the phrase is used as actors Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez were presenting an award (seen below). The video amassed over 3.9 million views, 67,000 likes and 4,500 reposts in three days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References