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Now Charlie Sheen launches himself into the Twitter advertising business

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

March 4, 2011 | 3 min read

Well, now that he hold the Guinness world record on Twitter, what else is a joblesss TV star to do?

Then Sheen signed with Ad.ly, a Hollywood firm that writes messages from celebrities' Twitter or Facebook accounts to endorse products. The celebrities are paid for each message.

Arnie Gullov-Singh, chief executive of Ad.ly. told the LA Times,"Brands lined up to advertise on 'Two and a Half Men' because of the show's reach, and they'll do the same with celebrities like Charlie because of who he reaches.

"He's had the No. 1 show on television for the last seven years, and he's been getting a lot of coverage lately from traditional media."

The coverage is because CBS has put the show on hold "based on the totality of Charlie Sheen's statements, conduct and condition."

Sheen's first advertising message on Twitter said, "Winning..! Choose your Vice..." and linked to a photo of him holding a bottle of chocolate milk, with porn star Bree Olson — one of his two girlfriends — holding a Naked Juice smoothie.

On Wednesday afternoon Sheen sent out a message that said, "Still Winning..! Pong!" and showed the actor using his fingers to frame the DirecTV logo, displayed on a wall-mounted TV.

With Ad.ly, Sheen is joining more than 1,000 celebrities who include all three Kardashian sisters, former boxer Mike Tyson, and musicians Linkin Park, Enrique Iglesias and 50 Cent.

Celebrities are paired with more than 150 brands for specific ad campaigns, including companies such as Sony, Microsoft, Old Navy, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and American Airlines.

Despite his pitchman-style poses on Twitter , Charlie has been paid for no tweets as of yet, said an Ad.ly spokeswoman.

Neither Naked nor DirecTV paid Sheen or Olson for the photos.

She added,"It's up us to bring the right brand, the right opportunity to Charlie," We're working on opportunities right now and Charlie is open to that.

" But the stuff he's already done has all been Charlie being Charlie. It's all organic, and he hasn't been paid to do anything he's done so far."

This week, Sheen has spoken with nearly every major media outlet in the U.S. in what he has said is an attempt to tell his side of the story and prove his sobriety.

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