A few years from now, this whole Charlie Sheen ‘thing’ (I would say outburst but that just seems inadequate) is going to be taught in schools and universities across America. It won’t be within the context of the studying psychology and the definitions of psychotic behavior. Nor will scientist use his example or researchers, trying to understand the effects of cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin and whatever else he has loudly boasted to use. No, instead, we will look at the past two-weeks, his manic behavior and the even more manic widespread public reaction and use it as a case study for what business, and more specifically, media and marketing. Through all his crazy ramblings and psychotic ranting, Charlie Sheen has provided a textbook example of marketing yourself, the William Randolph Hearst of a generation raised on twitter and TMZ.
America’s obsession with celebrity is neither unique nor exactly new. Anyone who has been to England recently can clearly see that they have us beat in the world of tabloid and the lengths they are willing to go. And anyone who contends that this is just a product of a generation removed from radio or books and immersed in Television and now the internet does have a valid point, but also an ignorant one. America has always been obsessed with scandal and celebrity, dating back to colonial times. Perhaps the greatest celebrity of the 19th century was Jesse James, a man who had comics and books and songs written about him, and whose myth was as well known to Americans then as any other.
Just as people then were fascinated by this myth, the bad guy, going against the rules and breaking laws, people today are obsessed with Charlie Sheen, who uses hookers and cocaine as his publicity hook rather than horses and robbing banks. While Jessie James did not produce his own PR, Sheen has over the last week produced a media blitz unlike anything we really have seen before. What’s even more interesting too look at is that he has moved beyond the media establishment. He has gone on the today show, gone on Piers Morgan and gone on 20/20. In doing so he has reached quadrants, man and woman, in the 40 to 50 year old sector. Then he moved on to the world of twitter, fast replacing even Internet videos and articles as the way young people devour information, and conquered that world. He was the fasted person ever to reach a million followers, and will soon bypass every conventional superstar in fields like sports, politics and music to have the largest set of followers ever. While they all have fields, domains of specialty that demand we know them, Sheen has created a new one: insanity.
theporkgrinder 
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