A Dr. Simi mascot was spotted out in Ciudad Juárez, guitar in hand, rocking out to Metallica, and it feels like something that could only happen in the borderland!
If you’ve lived in El Paso long enough, or you go back and forth between El Paso and Juárez, then you already know Dr. Simi and his antics. Seeing him turn a sidewalk into a mini metal show just feels right.
Who Is Dr. Simi?
Dr. Simi is the mustached, lab-coat-wearing mascot for Farmacias Similares, one of the largest pharmacy chains in Mexico known for affordable generic medicine- a pharmacy and clinic I tend to go to when I cross the border! But over the years, Dr. Simi has evolved into something much bigger than a brand mascot.
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Outside pharmacies, people dressed as Dr. Simi dance, interact with passersby, and regularly end up going viral. Fans started bringing Dr. Simi plush dolls to concerts and tossing them onstage, and artists embraced it. What started as a local tradition turned into an international pop-culture phenomenon almost by accident.
At this point, Dr. Simi popping up anywhere- especially with music involved- is usually a sign that the internet is about to have a good day.
Dr. Simi Goes Metal in Ciudad Juárez
That brings us back to Juárez.
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In a video posted to Instagram, Dr. Simi is posted up outside a pharmacy, playing a guitar while Metallica blasts in the background. There’s no stage and no setup- just pure commitment to the moment, the music, and the performance!
It’s the kind of thing that stops people in their tracks, whether you’re walking by in real life or scrolling past it online.
I feel like this is something you just have to live in order to understand it; it’s Borderland culture in a nutshell: music, personality, and a shared sense of humor that doesn’t need much explanation. Rock on, Dr. Simi!
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