{"id":101345,"date":"2015-11-20T08:37:15","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T13:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=101345"},"modified":"2015-11-20T02:49:19","modified_gmt":"2015-11-20T07:49:19","slug":"wheres-charlie-has-fiat-cut-sheen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2015\/11\/wheres-charlie-has-fiat-cut-sheen\/","title":{"rendered":"Where\u2019s Charlie? Has Fiat Cut Sheen?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Charlie Sheen with actress\/model Catrinel Menghia in the Fiat Abarth commercial.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite generating plenty of buzz with an earlier commercial for the Italian brand, Fiat has decided to put in the \u201cdrawer\u201d a commercial it was putting together for the new Fiat 124 Spider that featured legendary Hollywood \u201cbad boy\u201d Charlie Sheen.<\/p>\n

The move comes at a time when the controversial actor is back in the news, revealing he is HIV positive. That, in turn, has prompted some former partners to threaten to bring lawsuits against Sheen for allegedly failing to advise them of his health problems.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Full Story!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A still-incomplete video featuring Sheen driving wildly in the new roadster was played for several dozen reporters during a sneak preview of the new Fiat 124 Spider at parent Fiat Chrysler\u2019s headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan on November 3rd<\/sup>. But it was notably absent from the public unveiling of the 2-seater at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week, prompting speculation there may be a connection to Sheen\u2019s latest troubles.<\/p>\n

The 50-year-old actor previously appeared in a campaign for Fiat\u2019s high-performance sub-brand Abarth. Titled \u201cHouse Arrest,\u201d it shows the pepped-up version of the little Fiat 500 smashing into a home where a lavish party is underway. After screeching through the mansion, Sheen steps out \u2013 wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet.<\/p>\n

The video shown to reporters earlier this month followed a nearly identical theme, the new roadster going through its paces before the window opens to reveal Sheen behind the wheel. \u201cSome people watch car porn,\u201d he says to the camera. \u201cI prefer to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

(<\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> to check out the 2016 Fiat 124 Spider.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The video for the new Fiat 124 Spider echoed the same them as the older Abarth spot, showing Sheen pushing the car to extremes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While no clear plan for the spot was announced during the background session, Bob Broderdorf, the North American director of the Fiat brand, told reporters, \u201cIf you\u2019re going to bring this vehicle to the U.S., you\u2019re going to have to do it with flair.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happened between the background session and the L.A. Auto Show debut?<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time, there is no plan for any FIAT creative outside of \u201cHouse Arrest\u201d that features Charlie Sheen to run on-air or online,\u201d FCA spokeswoman Diane Martin told TheDetroitBureau.com in an e-mail.<\/p>\n

Referring to the Italian brand\u2019s global boss \u2013 and head of FCA marketing \u2013 Olivier Francois, she added, Olivier and his team shoot creative for many purposes \u2013 often times it is for internal presentations or auto show presentation purposes only \u2013 and is not ever intended to run as part of an on-air or online campaign.<\/p>\n

Several ad industry insiders contacted by TheDetroitBureau.com confirmed that it is not entirely unheard of for a campaign to be scrapped or delayed, and for a variety of reasons. But they also agreed that it is rare to see a company like Fiat Chrysler go so far as it did with a major celebrity who typically commands a hefty salary for such an appearance \u2013 even if Sheen is, as spokesperson Martin suggested, \u201ca friend of the Fiat brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Live from LA! <\/em>Click Here<\/a> for full coverage of the 2015 LA Auto Show.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Those in the marketing community weren\u2019t the only ones surprised by the decision to drop Sheen\u2019s latest effort for Fiat. To his mind, \u201cThey don\u2019t want to touch this,\u201d said Joe Phillippi, an auto analyst with AutoTrends Consulting. \u201cI think they\u2019re embarrassed by the HIV situation \u2013 or maybe they don\u2019t want to be embarrassed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The use of Sheen could be all the more uncomfortable, Phillippi suggested, because the market for the new Fiat 124 Spider will be skewed towards women.<\/p>\n

Asked directly whether Sheen\u2019s illness had any impact on the decision, spokeswoman Martin underlined in her e-mail that, \u201cit will be based on what he feels is the best creative material he reviews for the launch over the course of coming year — and not by Mr. Sheen\u2019s recent health acknowledgment.\u201d<\/p>\n

She went on to say that marketing chief Olivier \u2013 highly regarded for his creative work at Fiat Chrysler \u2013 — may yet go to his \u201cdrawer of creative material and (later\u201d decide to run\/air a specific video from a previous shoot online or on-air \u2013 that possibility always exists.\u201d<\/p>\n

(A Fiat pickup? Yep. <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> to check it out.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite generating plenty of buzz with an earlier commercial, Fiat has decided to put in the \u201cdrawer\u201d a commercial it made for the new Fiat 124 Spider that featured legendary Hollywood \u201cbad boy\u201d Charlie Sheen. The Italian maker denies rumors it shelved the spot because of Sheen’s revelation he’s HIV positive. The story from TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101345"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101345"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=101345"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=101345"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=101345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}