Hanesbrands has ended its advertising campaign featuring Charlie Sheen because of domestic violence charges filed against the actor, a company spokesman said Wednesday.
Spokesman Matt Hall said the seriousness of the allegations against the 44-year-old actor made the decision necessary.
“It’s a pretty standard, straightforward call when somebody who’s in your commercials is arrested on suspicion of something of this magnitude,” Hall said. “And we would suspend the ads both for the company and, really, for Mr. Sheen and his family as well. Given the publicity, it makes sense to not air those ads during that time.”
Hall said the television ads were stopped effective Dec. 28, the first business day after Sheen was arrested. He said some print ads will continue to appear into the spring.
“Unfortunately, the production schedule of those publications do not allow us to pull those ads,” Hall said.
The “Two and a Half Men” star was arrested in Aspen, Colo., on Christmas Day on charges including felony menacing and domestic violence. His wife Brooke Sheen told police he put a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her. Sheen denies the allegations.
His publicist Stan Rosenfield says the actor has no comment on the Hanes decision. Hanes is based in Winston-Salem.
Hall says Sheen wouldn’t have been retained when his contract expired in the middle of the year. He says Sheen has been a pitchman for almost two years. Hall also said there would be minimal impact from pulling the ads.
“We have other commercials. We have commercials for our socks, and so we’ll probably push those commercials some more,” he said. “We really don’t view the first half of the year as a marketing-critical time for the advertiser, so we don’t think there’s any detriment to the brand by not having the opportunity to run these ads if we wanted to.”
The ads feature Sheen and basketball legend Michael Jordan, a longtime spokesman for Hanes. In the series, Sheen is seen in several settings telling Jordan about the Hanes underwear he’s wearing. Jordan drives away from Sheen in one of the ads; in another spot, Sheen backs his car over a bellstand and an outdoor heater after seeing Jordan in a parking lot.
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles.
Nakamura Whitehouse, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years.
Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation.
EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.”
Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.”
34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More