- I accidentally became a meme.
And this is that story.
My name is Andras Arato.
But people might know me
as Hide the Pain Harold.
Before taking stock photos I was working
at an electric engineer.
My specialty was lighting technologies.
The stock photos began when
a photographer contacted me,
when he saw my sour face on social media.
And he was saying that he was
seeking a character like me.
And invited me to shoot some images.
This happened almost 10 years ago.
After the first photo shoots,
the photographer really
liked the pictures.
So he invited me back several times.
I was for instance, a doctor,
a university professor,
a husband, a painter, and many others.
I first realized when I had become a meme
several months after
the first photo shoots.
I was curious what my
pictures were used for.
So I made a reverse image search.
And I discovered myself in
different advertisements
as a professor or a doctor.
But some months later,
when I repeated that search
I discovered the first meme.
And that was the point when I realized
that I had became a meme.
At first, it was horrifying
when I encountered the first memes.
Because there was some really rude
or disgusting jokes with me.
So I wanted to restore all the pictures
and close down all the
websites that they appeared.
But that was not a real solution.
It took several years til I
could accept the situation.
But it has brought me
several new opportunities.
At first, people didn't believe
that I am a real, living person.
They thought the memes were
kind of a Photoshop creation.
When embraced this, I revealed my identity
on a Russian social media site.
And after that, I can say
that all the bad or rude
or disgusting memes disappeared.
At first, I did not
consider myself as famous.
But later, more and more
people stopped me on the street
asking for a sour face.
(upbeat music)
I do this always willingly because I see
the joy in the eyes of these people.
And it's so good to
make other people happy.
I had the opportunity to cooperate
with the biggest brands, like Coca Cola.
They invited me for a shooting
when I had to fly in a wind tunnel.
It was very, very exciting.
I enjoyed it very much.
Now there is a much
bigger challenge in sight.
A comedy movie about
the Hide the Pain story.
My management is planning talking
with potential investors.
Surprisingly, I got lots
of messages each day
on my Facebook and Instagram channels
from people asking for help
in their everyday life.
I try to show to my fans
that they should be happy
even during the difficult
times in their lives.
And I guess memes can help in this period
to overcome the everyday annoyances.
Even though this
unexpected event happened,
I still consider myself the
same old guy, Andras Arato.
(upbeat music)
