ARCHIVEHow Eno Turned Hide the Pain Harold Into a Heartburn Relief Icon
Eno's Cara de Azia campaign is a 2022 integrated advertising campaign created by Publicis Haleon for the Brazilian market, starring András Arató — internationally known as the Hide the Pain Harold meme — whose decade-long expression of suppressed discomfort is reframed as the face of untreated heartburn, resolved by Eno Fruit Salt.
Launched in Brazil in July 2022, the campaign takes its name from a Portuguese double meaning: cara de azia translates literally as heartburn face, a phrase that simultaneously describes Arató's signature pained smile and the physical condition Eno exists to treat. The strategic premise is disarmingly simple. For roughly ten years, internet audiences worldwide had been sharing an image of a man smiling through what appeared to be barely concealed suffering. Cara de Azia proposes that the answer was always hiding in plain sight — heartburn. Eno Fruit Salt, the brand claims, provides relief from symptoms in as little as six seconds.
The campaign rolls out across films, mini-documentaries, and digital activations in multiple formats, all anchored by Arató's physical presence rather than a recreation of his meme. In Brazil, where the character had accumulated significant cultural currency through social media sharing, this decision lends the campaign a documentary authenticity that separates it from conventional pharmaceutical advertising. Publicis Groupe created the work through Publicis Haleon, a platform established exclusively to serve Haleon Brazil — a consumer health company that became independent from GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare in July 2022. The Clapboard Score for Cara de Azia stands at 78 out of 100, reflecting strong creative distinctiveness and cultural resonance within the Brazilian healthcare advertising landscape.
ARCHIVEEno's strategic insight for Cara de Azia rests on a tension that most pharmaceutical brands choose to ignore: common digestive discomfort is universally experienced but rarely spoken about openly. In Brazil, as across Latin America, conversations about gastrointestinal health have historically carried a degree of social awkwardness that suppresses both category engagement and brand salience. By locating the campaign's emotional centre inside a meme rather than a clinical demonstration, Publicis Haleon sidesteps that awkwardness entirely.
The choice of András Arató is not merely a stunt. His Hide the Pain Harold persona had accumulated genuine cultural mass through years of organic sharing across global social platforms, and his recognition in Brazil was substantial by the time the campaign launched in July 2022. Reinterpreting that persona as a man who has simply never treated his heartburn converts passive cultural familiarity into active brand relevance. Carol Curi, Eno Brand Manager, stated that the brand selected humor and Arató's iconic status specifically to broaden communication reach and connect with a wider consumer base, as reported by shots.net.
The competitive context matters here. In the global over-the-counter antacid category, Eno faces rivals including Gaviscon, marketed by Reckitt, and Tums, marketed by Haleon's own portfolio in other markets, both of which rely primarily on functional, symptom-led creative. According to Allied Market Research, the global OTC antacid and heartburn-relief market was estimated at approximately US$6.7 billion in 2022. No audited market-share data for individual brands in Brazil for 2022 is publicly available. Within this competitive field, Cara de Azia stakes out a culturally native position that neither Gaviscon nor Tums has pursued with comparable boldness in the Brazilian market, using internet-native storytelling to reach consumers where pharmaceutical advertising rarely ventures.
Cara de Azia deploys András Arató not as a cameo but as the structural centre of an integrated creative system. The campaign's films and mini-documentaries are built around the conceit that the world has spent a decade misreading Arató's expression, and that Eno finally delivers the resolution that audiences did not know they were waiting for. As reported by shots.net on September 5, 2022, the campaign was directed by Carlão Busato and Luigi Parisi, whose combined approach lends the work a tonal range that moves between deadpan comedy and genuine warmth.
The creative direction is led by Laura Azevedo and Ricardo Schreier, Creative Directors at Publicis Haleon Brazil. As published in The Drum on September 5, 2022, they stated: "To have one of the biggest memes in the world in our campaign combines work and fun. The 'Cara de Azia' campaign is not only a relief for Harold, but also for consumers. Talking about heartburn doesn't have to be boring." That framing — that the subject of digestive health need not be treated with clinical seriousness — governs every executional decision in the campaign.
The production integrates multiple formats deliberately. Film provides reach and narrative depth; the mini-documentary format legitimises Arató's story and rewards audiences who already know the meme with a satisfying backstory; digital activations in Brazil allow the campaign to live natively within the platforms where the Harold persona first flourished. One campaign film, titled Chorrindo? Não, Cara de Azia!, accumulated more than 305,000 views and 4,075 likes according to data documented at the time of submission. The Portuguese-language creative anchors the campaign firmly in the Brazilian market while the inherently cross-border nature of the Hide the Pain Harold meme gives the work a global legibility that extends Eno's visibility well beyond its domestic audience.
Cara de Azia earns a Clapboard Score of 78 out of 100, a result driven by the campaign's measurable industry recognition, its documented audience engagement, and the structural originality of its creative premise within Brazilian pharmaceutical advertising.
The campaign's award record is substantive. Profissionais do Ano, awarded by Rede Globo, named Cara de Azia the national category winner for the 30-second film format in 2022, as verified through Publicis creative leadership records. Effie Brasil awarded the campaign a Silver in 2023, also verified through Publicis personnel records, recognising its effectiveness within the healthcare category. At Cannes Lions, the campaign received a Shortlist in the Social and Influencer category, as confirmed through Publicis personnel records. Clube de Criação awarded the campaign Gold in the Integrated Cases category, again verified through Publicis personnel records.
On measurable digital engagement, the campaign film Chorrindo? Não, Cara de Azia! recorded more than 305,000 views and over 4,000 likes at the point of submission. No independently audited media reach figures or sales uplift data for the Brazilian market are publicly available for this campaign. Structurally, however, the campaign demonstrates clear effectiveness architecture: a universally recognised cultural asset is converted into a product demonstration, the brand's core efficacy claim — relief in as little as six seconds — is made tangible through a character audiences already associate with suffering, and the integrated format ensures the idea travels across the precise digital environments where the original meme achieved its reach. In Brazil's crowded OTC healthcare market, that combination of cultural fluency and category relevance represents a durable strategic template.
Cara de Azia is a 2022 integrated campaign by Eno, created by Publicis Haleon in Brazil. It stars András Arató, known globally as the Hide the Pain Harold meme, and reframes his famous pained expression as the face of untreated heartburn — resolved by Eno Fruit Salt, which claims relief in as little as six seconds.
András Arató is the Hungarian man behind the Hide the Pain Harold meme, whose suppressed-discomfort smile became one of the internet's most shared images. Eno chose him because his global recognition was strong in Brazil, and his iconic expression mapped directly onto the unspoken discomfort of untreated heartburn, giving the brand a culturally native creative platform.
Cara de Azia won multiple awards, including a Rede Globo Profissionais do Ano national prize for 30-second film in 2022, an Effie Brasil Silver in 2023, a Clube de Criação Gold in Integrated Cases, and a Cannes Lions Shortlist in Social and Influencer — all verified through Publicis personnel and creative leadership records.
Publicis Haleon, a Publicis Groupe platform created exclusively to serve Haleon Brazil, produced the campaign. Creative Directors Laura Azevedo and Ricardo Schreier led the work. Directors Carlão Busato and Luigi Parisi helmed the films, as reported by shots.net in September 2022.
The campaign film Chorrindo? Não, Cara de Azia! recorded more than 305,000 views and over 4,000 likes at the time of submission, according to data documented by Clapboard. No independently audited sales or broader media reach figures for the Brazilian market are publicly available for this campaign.
Eno Fruit Salt is an over-the-counter antacid used to relieve heartburn and indigestion. In Brazil, it is marketed by Haleon, a consumer health company that became independent from GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare in July 2022 — the same month the Cara de Azia campaign launched in the Brazilian market.
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