Charlie Sheen goes on a private binge and sleeps with seven people in Hostelworld ad
Hostelworld has enlisted Charlie Sheen to front its latest campaign, playing on the actor's unfavourable reputation to debunk common misconceptions about hostels.
Charlie Sheen goes on a private binge and sleeps with seven people in Hostelworld ad
A series of six short videos for the brand show the Platoon star engaging in scandals like "cooking up", "sleeping with seven people," and "beating a young traveller with a bat".
Created by the company's agency of record Lucky Generals, the 'Clickbait Charlie' project gives a nod to the current furore surrounding fake news, with the company saying that it wants to address misinformation around hostels and "highlight how their reputation, similarly to Sheen’s, is outdated".
The films in the campaign end with a twist, revealing Sheen is actually just enjoying all the facilities a modern hostel has to offer. The series will run as skippable video and pre-roll ads across YouTube and Facebook as well as sites like Ladbible, TMZ, and Vice.
Sheen is just the latest celebrity to feature in the hostel firm's ads. A spot from 2015 called 'Youth Hosteling with Chris Eubank', which riffed off an Alan Partridge joke, paved the way for a 2016 spot starring 50 Cent.
The brand's last campaign was a spoof leaked footage-style ad featuring Drake, Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran lookalikes.
Sheen recently backed an ad to fund a new condom called the Lelo Hex. Back in 2010 and prior to his role in the campaign Sheen was dropped by Hanes undershirts as a brand ambassador following a domestic violence arrest.