Remember that obnoxious kid in grade school who was always the attention hog? Always needed to have the most attention at show and tell. Whined if they weren’t chosen first at kickball. Interrupted your story at lunch time. But what did mom always tell you? “Don’t give them any attention…that’s just what they want.”
Well apparently the moms of the world need to give all us Americans a little reminder lecture, because that obnoxious kid is back and he brought the big guns; Charlie Sheen is the king of the social media and pop culture playground right now. Complain about his attention antics all you want, but I think we are all to blame. We have practically rolled out the red carpet, welcoming him will all the necessary pop culture rights of passage.
A successful 24 hour quest to make an explosive entrance onto Twitter by gaining a million fans? Check. Multiple interviews with high profile news anchors where you voice your ultimate confusion as to why people aren’t worshiping the ground you walk on? Check. We even gave him the highest status symbol of ultimate pop culture takeover- a ridiculously catchy autotune YouTube video, mashing up the most hilarious statements from his multiple interviews. It racked up almost 6 million views in five days.
We’re all criticizing his poor decisions and inability to represent himself in a respectful manner. But do we really have room to criticize? As we all sit around and sing his winning song over and over, we are just feeding the PR monster machine Charlie and his extremely smart publicists have created. The man is at the top of the list on desired interviewees on newstations across the country, is a web viral star, and had the whole country is waiting with baited breath for his next move. Not bad for someone who just got fired.
Charlie Sheen’s life might not be right on track. But some of his publicity moves are right on. If Charlie can manage to ride his way of newfound pop culture popularity and turn the attention into some PR tactics (maybe figuring out his life along the way), he might really be the winner after all.
The man drives me crazy. It's funny that you mention this, because it seems that Charlie is approaching his stage five media attack with the "all press is good press" mentality. It reminds me of the Paris Hilton sex tape scandal.
ReplyDeleteThe media likes bad behavior. From a business standpoint, Sheen is making all of the right moves. He is THE hot topic. Everyone wants a piece of him. Good public relations though, establishes and nurtures relationships. His behavior could have a negative effect on his relationships with his family and coworkers.
From a short term standpoint, yeah Charlie Sheen, you are on top of PR media world right and everyone is talking about you. However, you need to focus on the relationships that your behavior is hurting. In the long run, he could be destroying his valuable personal and professional relationships.
Renee, first I'd like to thank you for youtube link. I am unfortunately reporting that I am now one of eight million hits.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's because I'm not a PR major but this wasn't the first thing I thought about when I heard about Charlie Sheen. I agree with Joe in the fact that while all good press is good press, we all know he's eventually going to fall off the top of social media world, and then what does he have? I think his attitude and actions right now are just being eaten up, but they will eventually die.
I just don't understand why he has to come off so cocky. I remember listening to parts of his TODAY interview on the radio and I thought to myself... Really Charlie?
Oh well. I'm just excited to see what the next big thing will be.
Renee, as sick of Charlie Sheen as I am, hearing about his latest antics continue to be entertaining. Charlie LOVES the attention he is getting, no question. When he says you are just jealous, in part, he is right. He has successfully controlled the news agenda for a few weeks now, taking social media by storm. Creating this much attention is something many companies and individuals alike dream of doing. Maybe after all of this there is something to learn about attracting public attention. Believe me, I wish I could pinpoint that lesson...maybe someone else can? Just a thought...
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