Charlie Sheen finding ways to win off television
NEW YORK - Charlie Sheen isn't taking unemployment quietly.
Fired Monday from the TV show "Two and a Half Men," the actor has now become an Internet sensation, and the jokes and job opportunities have started to pour in, CBS News correspondent Seth Doane reports.
Sheen is now starring in his own show on the web, called "Sheen's Korner," part tragedy, part science-fiction, definitely a mystery.
"I'm going to write my sermons," said Sheen. "I'm going to deliver them like truth torpedoes."
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"You're either in my corner or you're with the trolls," Sheen said.
It's all setting new highs -- or, rather, lows -- in the social-media sphere, with nearly a million Twitter followers in just one day and well more than 2 million now.
"A lot of people are thinking that Charlie Sheen has a huge opportunity to monetize his whole crazy train wreck life online," said Digital Living's Shelly Palmer. "He's got the tools at his disposal. He's already proven that he's a gigantic Twitter and Facebook monster."
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Companies hoping to cash-in are boarding that train wreck too:
Sheen's tweet Monday about needing an intern linked directly to an ad from internships.com, which paid Sheen an undisclosed amount for the placement and got more than 300,000 clicks in return.
That deal was brokered by Adly Inc., whose CEO, Arnie Gullov-Singh, was at an advertising conference in Austin, Texas, Tuesday. Adly is known to pay up to $10,000 per tweet to celebrities who hawk products.
"These are celebrities who have huge scale and huge influence with consumers and social media," said Gullov-Singh. "That's why brands are lining up to be part of it."
Even wholesome companies are borrowing his catchphrases "winning" and "tiger blood." McDonald's tweeted about "McWinning." Target's tweeted "TigerBlood" is not yet for sale at their stores. Even the venerable American Red Cross tweeted, "We may not collect #tigerblood, but we know our donors & volunteers have fierce passion."
But Edmund Lee, a digital media reporter for Advertising Age, said there might be a risk for companies to get attached to Sheen.
"If Charlie Sheen continues to be thought of in this crazy way, that's the association stuck to your brand," Lee said.
Now even the Sheen marketing machine is being mocked, such as by late night host Jimmy Fallon.
Even if viewers don't know what to make of all this, Sheen hopes it'll keep making him a little money.
