Friday, March 4, 2011
Charlie Sheen Good or Bad PR?
Yesterday in my PR 105 class we discussed Charlie Sheen and his new found notoriety due to his recent interviews and public acceptance of image. It is true that Charlie Sheen's use of drugs and "rock & roll lifestyle" as he calls it, is frowned upon by the public. However, can it be argued that his recent interviews and acceptance of this image is good PR? He recently broke a Twitter record of most followers within a certain time period (I'm not exactly sure what it was), and has been covered by several different media outlets. It is rare if not impossible to meet a person in the United States, who has not at least heard of Charlie Sheen and his recent break down (if you will). In this sense of creating a buzz and keeping his name in the media, he has done great PR. But is it still good PR when your behavior has clearly been wrong? When despite the hype that has been created, you've created an image which the public frowns upon? As the Public Relations professional representing Charlie Sheen, do you agree or disagree?
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It can be argued that Sheen has accomplished some good PR as of late (like the Twitter record you mentioned); however, there is too much bad PR (not in the 'good' way) that outweigh the actual 'good' PR.
ReplyDeleteConsidering Sheen's initial objective was to get his show back with his 1.6 million an episode, the publicity around him is not helping him reach his goal. His narcissistic, deranged, delusional persona makes it unlikely that anyone would want to work with him; even worse, it also shed light on his alcohol and drug addictions he has battled with for some time now. Who would want to trust or hire this guy as an actor when he is an unstable, hot mess?
Now, his objective might have changed since the initial...we'll call it an accident. Maybe getting a million followers on Twitter is in his plan. Today, he was talking about his "book," using that as loosely as possible, nor do I have any confirmed resource. This insanity might be the PR he is looking for to sell books. Maybe it is a character performance of some kind and he is preparing for a role.
You made a nice post Amanda in finding the good PR in the bad PR; in my opinion, there could be. TIme will tell if he is incredibly smart or incredibly stupid.
They say all publicity is good publicity...
ReplyDeleteBut I'm not sure that's true. Sure, Sheen has managed to create this strange buzz around his craziness, but what is he actually doing with this buzz. Buzz for the sake of buzz isn't going to get his job back and it's not going to help his image within the industry.
It's sort of like Lindsey Lohan. She is constantly in celebrity news and everyone talks about her, but the publicity has done nothing for her career.
So, yes, sheen is creating publicity opportunities, but it's bad PR because he isn't using them to help his brand.
i can agree to disagree with you Amanda. I watched his 20/20 interview and i honestly got out of it that he is done pretending to be someone he is not and now just does not care to show the world who he is and that he does drugs and what not. He is just trying to be as real as he can be but honestly it is bad at the same time for his career and future. We do not know what its like to be a celebrity but i doubt it is a easy job when you are trying to pleased the entire world and at the same time take care of yourself. But i do think he needs to tone down his behavior and say his sorry to people he has hurt.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Sheen is off his rocker. Gimmick or not, his actions are out of line and the fact that the media is this obsessed with it, makes me really sad for our country.
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