Not every commercial feels exploitative though it’s increasingly hard to find one that acknowledges hawking a product while attempting to do so sincerely. That makes Lee Min Ho‘s short but high profile C-webdrama Love LINE co-starring TW-actress Bea Hayden all the more remarkable for coming across as sweet and down-to-earth. It’s not packed with razzle dazzle and lets the two leads just showcase their pretty looks while spending a lot of time with their phone messaging app LINE. Naver makes the app and it’s doing a fantastic job of raising its profile alongside competitors like WeChat or WhatsApp. It was featuring prominently in last year’s buzziest K-drama You From Another Star, and now LINE even has tons of YFAS stickers featuring Chun Song Yi and other characters from the drama. I find PPL in dramas has gotten too intrusive into the story line and one recent drama in particular was Heirs where I felt scenes were staged purposely to showcase a brand endorsement or even a cafe sponsorship.

In this vein the Love LINE mini-drama feels like a breath of fresh air, I know what I’m getting into and the story doesn’t try too hard to promote the product at the expense of the story. There really isn’t a story other than Taiwanese girl meets hot Korean musician and they get connected on LINE and proceed to flirt their way to falling in love despite the language and distance barrier. Who’s to say the liberal use of LINE stickers isn’t the perfect way to convey feelings as a common “language” so to speak. I can’t say if Lee Min Ho and Bea have much chemistry since they spend the majority of the mini-drama communicating via LINE but they are a visually pleasing pair to stare at. Check out the final two parts of this mini-drama complete with English-subs though honestly this whole endeavor is fairly easy to understand in any language. Cute nice boy meets pretty sweet girl and VOILA magic perfect romance ensues complete with cheesy rose petal strewn piano serenade! Continue reading →