Hide the pain Harold insists he's a meme and not an influencer

Hide The Pain Harold who became a meme insists he is not a social media influencer, though he has built up quite the following online...

After the stock photography model accidentally went viral for his meme-worthy fake smile that looked like a pained expression, András István Arató who is a 77 years old retired electrical engineer from Hungary, gained more than 400,000 Instagram followers.

In a recent post about his trip to Como Fun - a pop culture fair in Lariofiere, Italy - hed made it clear what his job title should be.

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Sporting a t-shirt that reads: "I am a meme. Not an influencer".

Fans of Arató showed some love and appreciation for the shirt in the comments section.

One person said: "If others use memes for their own advantage (money, advertise), they will eventually fall. But if you only embrace the fun a then thing that memes are supposed to be for, then you will never fail. That's why Harold is the best."

"This man is living the life," another person said.

Someone else added: "Best t-shirt ever!!"

"Which is 100 times better," a fourth person commented.

Arató managed to become a lasting internet meme after a professional photographer got in touch after seeing snaps of him from his holiday in Turkey.

“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,” he told Buzzfeed.

He accepted the photographer's invite to model for a trial shoot where the two collaborated on "couple hundred" stock photographs, according to Know Your Meme.

Months go by and Arató suddenly sees photos from the shoot used for various reason - some which he didn't agree to.

“At first it was horrifying when I encountered the first memes because there were some really rude or disgusting jokes with me. So I wanted to restore all the pictures and close down all the websites they appeared on, but that was not a solution,” he added, as per Buzzfeed.

He echoed a similar sentiment to what his recent t-shirt said about becoming more recognisable.

“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. I do this always willingly because I see the joy in the eyes of these people,” Arató said.

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