I suppose we all have to admit, albeit reluctantly, that Tatia Pilieva’s viral video does very little for its brand, Wren Studio – a women’s fashion label.

You can bet that the 952,802 people who shared the 3.5 minute video between March 10 and 14, and the 54,996,455 people who watched it between March 10 and 16, were oblivious to its raison d’etre.

“We asked 20 strangers to kiss for the first time,” are the words on the title that opens the film. What happens next is a reassuring expose of first kiss awkwardness: There are giggles, shuffling and all sorts of hesitation to watch. “What was your name again?” and “Can we turn out the lights…?” are rather fun to listen to. Shyness happens to everyone. There is sure to be a bit of voyeurism involved, too, in its viral spread. Boy kissing boy and girl kissing girl is a tried and true attention grabber.

Although only one woman is outed in the film, nearly everyone involved is an actor, model, musician, or designer, with notables including All My Children star Jill Larson, Italian model Natalia Bonifacci, and indie musician Z Berg. When the couples do eventually kiss, the film becomes sensual. Only one woman appears to have been mismatched.

The filmmaker is an amateur. She has been finding out, from the deluge of Tweets and YouTube comments the film has triggered, that you can’t please all of the people all of the time. But you can make some people rapturous.