Charlie Sheen’s Accidental Legal Marketing Campaign
By Steve Lundin, Cultural Analyst and Author, “The Manipulator: A Private Life in Public Relations (Volume I)”Charlie Sheen’s recent admission of HIV Positive status, accompanied by his wish to be a role model for bearing his sins, will make a huge impact on one community: our nation of lawyers. Sheen’s sudden transparency as a risk taking middle aged celebrity, admittedly to stave off blackmailers and beat tabloid scoops, served to dredge up 1980’s misinformation about the virus, while making him a hero to every civil and criminal lawyer in the country. His intended message may have been, “conduct safe sex, but if you mess up, then fess up (eventually),” but his translated message will ultimately be, “sue unto others as they have screwed unto you.”For once, Charlie Sheen may have demonstrated a connection with the rest of the world: he admitted to being embarrassed about something and keeping it to himself. Only this something comes with a potential death sentence. Through his nationally televised mea culpa, we learned that you can successfully extort someone for secrets that would potentially injure others (being a scumbag for fun and profit). We also learned that you shouldn’t talk about your affliction unless a national tabloid threatens to out you, while that same tabloid spreads misinformation concerning the nature of the virus itself. We can thank Charlie and his gaggle of media followers for helping stir up old prejudices, conflating the virus with the disease.The biggest public lesson, however, will make phones ring at law firms across the country. It’s the reminder, or revelation, that you don’t actually have to contract something from someone to sue them. Not sharing information is grounds to potentially send your former or current (lover, one night stand, dallying spouse, porn start partner) off to prison. While there may have been a disparity between the number of people exposed to HIV versus the number of people who initiated lawsuits, after Charlie’s public declaration, those numbers may come into balance.According to the CDC, 50,000 people actually acquire the HIV virus each year. We can probably assume that even more people have been exposed to it and didn’t contract the virus, or unknowingly had sex with someone who had the virus. According to Charlie, he informed partners of his status prior to the bump and grind, slurp and burp or chew and brew (don’t ask), which makes it all OK, in his interpretation of the law, life and general moral conduct. A guy’s gotta get laid right? However, it wasn’t long before one of those partners, porn star Bree Olson, claimed she was in the dark about his condition. And that begs the nasty old felony, lawsuit, prison time thing. Translation: forget the doctor; it’s time to lawyer up.Many, many states have laws concerning the right to inform, dating back to the 1980’s. Keeping your HIV positive status to yourself before engaging in sex with someone is a felony in California, also Illinois and Iowa (and the list goes on); even if the virus is not transmitted to another person. There are people in prison in all the aforementioned states who took the necessary precautions, did not transmit anything to anyone, who are now languishing on metal cots for years, and will be registered sex offenders for life upon release. It’s possibly the biggest price anyone can pay for not wanting to take a cold shower.If you believe the pundits, tabloids, or even the postman, Charlie’s admission wasn’t much of a surprise to anyone. It was never a matter of if, but when. As Charlie’s case unfolds, and more and more details are brought forth by other actors, the public will receive additional legal lessons in the process for suing someone who has exposed you to something. We’ll see how much Charlie’s long, ugly third act fuels a national wave of litigious, revenge driven “Sheen suits;” because as every marketer knows, celebrity tie-ins are gold.
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Published on November 21, 2015
