The kiss of life: Lotte Duty Free web drama racks up an amazing 100 million views

SOUTH KOREA. Lotte Duty Free’s web drama ‘First Kiss for the Seventh Time’ has passed 100 million online views, extraordinary success for the film series only released in late November.

The landmark viewing figure was reached on Friday 13 January, precisely seven weeks since the launch of a teaser video for the eight-episode drama.

‘The First Kiss for the Seventh Time’ tells the tale of Min Soo-jin, a receptionist working at Lotte Duty Free. She has never had a boyfriend nor ever been kissed. On her 25th birthday, desperate for a boyfriend, she helps a mysterious woman at work who repays Soo-jin by granting her wish and introducing seven handsome men.

Episode one begins in Lotte Duty Free’s flagship store in Myeong-dong, Seoul, where Soo-jin bemoans her fate. “Today is my 25th birthday but I still don’t have a boyfriend yet. I didn’t have one last year or the year before that, I’ve never been asked out on a date by a guy,” she muses [a highly unlikely proposition given that she is played by the beautiful Lee Cho-hee -Ed; we won’t spoil the rest of the plot, which you can view below in its entirety  in Korean with English sub-titles below]

The drama was produced in Korean, Chinese, English, and Japanese. It was released via Naver TVcast (a Korean internet content provider), YouTube, Facebook, Yuki (China) and Weibo (China). It stars some of Korea’s biggest ‘hallyu’ (Korean wave) stars, including Lee Cho-hee in the main role; Choi Jo-woo (as the mysterious ‘angel of love’); and the seven male stars Lee Joon-gi, Park Hae-jin, Ji Chang-wook, Kai, Ok Taec-yeon, Lee Jong-suk and Lee Min-ho. Guest appearances are made by fellow stars Kim Ji-hoon and Go Gyu-pil.

Hallyu-content television and film dramas have proven hugely successful in attracting young Chinese visitors in particular to Korea and to its duty free shops, led by industry heavyweight Lotte, which has poured millions into attracting A-list celebrities to star in its films and promotions.

Welcoming the huge success of the drama, Lotte Duty Free said: “We plan to increase the status of tourism in Korea through various further forms of cultural contents in the future.”

Social media reaction* to ‘The First Kiss Only Seventh’:

• “It’s cliché, but entertaining and fun to watch. Don’t go into it expecting much story, just watch for all the eye candies… I mean, seven hotties in one show!”

• “This was a very fun watch, especially considering that it is just a glorified commercial for Lotte Duty Free. I have to say they make the best commercials. I guess that is because they get the very best actors and idols for their commercials.”

• “Well, this was like watching a really good fanfiction, straight from the fantasies of a fangirl. I’m not complaining though, it was actually okay, and I found myself laughing (as well as cringing) along with each of the short episodes.”

• “The cast will most likely be the first and main reason why one would watch this web drama. Lotte was able to cast A-list actors into one drama, and watching it made me squeal like crazy a lot of times in just a span of 10 minutes. The songs by [girl band] Melody Day and Ji Chang-wook were also good in the background.”

  * Independently sourced by The Moodie Davitt Report