Lee Min Ho and the Toyota Camry
K-drama dreamboat Lee Min Ho vs the brand spanking new Toyota Camry – which is hotter?
CARS have always been a big feature in some of Hallyu hottie Lee Min Ho’s most iconic drama moments. Just ask any fan, and they can rave for hours about the fancy wheels of his F4 leader and conglomerate heir Go Jun-pyo in the 2009 Korean hit drama series, Boys Over Flowers.
And who can forget that “over my dead body”, stance on top of his car in the middle of the road, as Lee’s vigilante character Yoon-sung in last year’s City Hunter tries to stop the baddie (although I suspect his salmon pink pants might have more to do with the scene’s popularity than the car).
So it is really not a stretch of the imagination to see Lee in the leading role of the 2012 Toyota Camry Campaign’s four-part web series, The One And Only.
Some would even say that it is perfect casting.You can almost hear the screams of Minoz (what Lee’s fans are called) around the world reading Toyota’s accolades of their new “face”: Lee Min Ho “exudes the same characteristics” as “the bold, handsome and sophisticated styling of the reinvented 2012 Camry… Both are ‘The One and Only’ in their class …”
This is even more so since they get triple the sizzle in this mini drama series as Lee plays twin brothers Joon and Kwon, whose lives get tangled in a mystery that can only be unlocked by a 2012 Toyota Camry.
First released in November, the 20 minute four-part series (with each episode running five minutes) is mainly in Korean but it also comes with English subtitles and narration.
It opens with our hero waking up from a coma. Suffering from amnesia, all that he has to help trigger his memory is his 2012 Toyota Camry. As soon as he gets inside his car, his mind is flooded by flashes of his past. When he turns on the Camry’s Entune system, he remembers his real identity and name, Joon.
After tracing his recent tracks on the GPS, Joon drives closer to the truth, but as our hero says, “I am not amazing, the Camry is.”
He discovers that his evil twin brother Kwon has broken out of jail and is now masquerading as him. And Kwon is about to walk down the aisle with Joon’s girl, Sohee (played by actress Seol Yoon). It is a good thing then that there is nothing like the Camry’s “Best in Class” MPG when you need to rush and stop a wedding.
Kwon finds out that Joon is on his way and sends two of his goons to stop him. Luckily, Joon spots them on his tail using the Camry’s Blind Spot Monitor. After shaking them off, Joon races on to the wedding. He faces one last obstacle – proving his identity to his bewildered love. Thank god for his Camry that can “prove it all.”
A drama series created for the purpose of advertising can be cringingly corny if done wrongly, and today, even the concept can be passé. But, at the risk of dating myself, I must confess that I have been a sucker for them ever since I saw the Nescafe Gold Blend Couple classic in the late 1980s as a student in Britain.
And I must say that Toyota Camry’s The One And Only is not too shabby in comparison. It may feature a lot of Camry but the selling, taglines and all, are cleverly woven into the drama that you really have to give them credit for their cheeky wit. Amazingly, they even managed to pack a twist at the end.
Lee’s performance is as engaging as ever, so if you are missing our F4 leader – his latest drama Faith will be aired only in August – this series should give you enough of a fix. Check out the series at Toyota’s official website (toyota.com/oneand only), where you can also watch behind-the-scenes clips and interviews, as well as download specially designed desktop wallpapers.
UMW Toyota Motor launched the Camry executive sedan and the 86 sports coupe last Friday at the Sepang International Circuit.
- TheStar
