Sunday, March 13, 2011

Charlie Sheen: The Antithesis of Politically Correct

There's no doubt that within the past few weeks virtually everyone has heard at least one Charlie Sheen quote or transgression. Whether its him "blowing 7 gram rocks", in reference to his on again off again cocaine use, or him claiming to be "bi-winning" when asked if he was bi-polar, Sheen has become something of a polarizing figure.

Sheen's outbursts can be seen through a number of different interviews. In almost all of these, he can be heard voicing his emphatic disdain for Alcoholics Anonymous and his former Two and a Half Men producer Chuck Lorre, as well as how he doesn't agree with the notion of him having any kind of a problem with drugs or alcohol. Oh and while hes conducting these interviews, he's chain smoking the healthiest of cigarettes, Marlboro Reds, and voicing orders/requests to his "goddesses" who currently live with him and apparently answer to his beckon call.

No matter how Sheen tries to shape his newly adopted view on his life, he is undoubtedly a walking talking publicist's nightmare. Embracing drugs and alcohol publicly while denouncing support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous just isn't a wise move. Additionally, engaging in a public attack on his former boss, no matter how much he may dislike him, is not an intelligent decision either.

Sheen needs to understand that whether he likes it or not, he has publics that are going to listen to what he says and pass judgment one way or the other. And even though he seems to not care about the opinions of his publics, their opinions effect him. After all, even though Sheen was the star on one of TV's most popular shows, his antics turned him into a public relations nightmare for his employers and thus, fired him because of it.

So if Charlie Sheen wants to continue partying the way he has been and partaking in the various vices he chooses to, then go for it. It his life, his body, his image that he his destroying. But if he has any desire to get back to work anytime soon, he will have to adopt a new tactic for handling his public relations because his current method just isn't going to cut it.

8 comments:

  1. Charlie Sheen is definitely taking the U.S. - if not the world - by storm lately; and by storm, I mean he's created a whirlwind thunderstorm around himself, and not in a good way.

    It's hard to tell if his fans are loving this or are pissed off at him, since he's been playing up the most obvious aspects of his 'bad boy' persona. One million Twitter followers & 74,000 social media intern applications later, and it's hard to tell if Charlie Sheen really is #winning or not.

    I personally don't see how he's currently employable as an actor, but he's doing his best by making FunnyorDie videos and keeping up a constant live stream on the web. What began as a traditional media onslaught turned into a digital media frenzy. While it appears as though his fans, old and new, are what's keeping him in the news right now, Charlie Sheen's antics are bound to become old and uninteresting soon enough - and then the actor will be still be sans job, and sans publicist.

    ReplyDelete
  2. At this point, public relations professionals are completely obsolete to him, in my opinion. It doesn't even seem like a PR person would be able to help him at all. He's created this world that he wants to be in, or at least pretends really well, and there is no stopping or changing him. If this is the way he wants to be, then I definitely don't blame his publicist for leaving him. He's become more than just a celebrity to work with - he has created this "world" and unless you're already inside, then I don't think there's even a point of trying to get in and fix it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think he's thinking more short term right now than about his future down the line. It's almost like in his mind he's thinking, "Wow I'm getting all of this attention, breaking records with fans on social media sites, I must be doing good." In reality however, he is making a mess for himself in the future. Look at Lindsay Lohan, at first she was getting all of this attention for being a fun, party girl, now, she's in and out of rehab and producers and actors even are refusing to work with her. Nobody wants to work with somebody whose not going to follow directions and tarnish their names. The same goes for PR professionals who don't want to take on this "Charlie Sheen Challenge" for their own sake.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am myself a little polarized by this issue. While I agree that in terms of being indirectly a corporate representative of a network, Sheen drastically would need to improve his image in order to return to the workforce. However, this is clearly not the only outlet for celebrity income. Sheen's antics attract publicity, something that celebrity publicists generally endorse. The issue is whether the contentious antics of Sheen will continue to maintain his celebrity status. Looking at at other case studies, such as Lindsay Lohan (as Whitney highlighted)one could assert that such antics can certainly keep the fans coming back for more...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Every one loves to watch a train wreck, and that's exactly with Sheen has become. At this point, his rants have gotten an insane amount of news coverage. His fans still stand by him and feel for him, I know huge Two and a Half Men fans who will defend Sheen until the end. Sheen, in my opinion, has surpassed the need for PR. People either think he's crazy because of all he is doing, or they'll support him because of his show and say he needs help. Either way we'll all be waiting with our jaws dropped at his next antic.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think it's so funny how after all of the drama, Charlie Sheen said he would actually go to back to Two and a Half men if they asked him to. He really does seem to be a train wreck, but it should be interesting to see where his career goes after his "Violent Torpedo of Truth" tour ends...Maybe Two and Half Men will take him back...Hahaha.

    ReplyDelete
  7. As entertaining as it may be to see Charlie go off on his antics, it is always so sad watching somebody just continue on a spiral downward road. You could just hope that if he notices his huge line of support that maybe he would want to change his life around, help a PR practitioner out because right now he just seems like a hopeless case. I do hope for the best for him and hopefully soon we will be cheering on his success instead of his failures.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sheen has definitely not been "winning" at all of his tour shows. A lot of them bombed, as audience members booed him during the show. ANy publicist would have to be crazy to deal with all of his crazy antics and outbursts. I think it's only a matter of time until everything catches up to him and he won't be "winning"

    ReplyDelete