• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 5, 2012

DirecTV’s campaign "Get Rid of Cable" goes to great depths in picking on the cable industry -- it's about the chain reaction when things go wrong with your cable service. For example, one guy ends up in a ditch with an eye patch; another winds up getting a granddaughter baby with a dog collar.

Now, Charlie Sheen makes an appearance in this campaign. Sheen's appearances relates how through a string of events -- this time stemming from one's frustration with recording shows on cable -– you can end up in a living room playing "Platoon"-like war games with Sheen. Something you don't want to do. And, so the thinking goes, you should get rid of cable.

The idea of using Sheen is great -- especially now that he is trying to resurrect his career with a new show on FX’s  "Anger Management," set to come out in a few months.

But the execution is kind of wanting. The "Platoon" reference came from Sheen's previous movie career, which included the likes of "Wall Street" and "Major League." But we all know Sheen's high-profile appearances -- and subsequent rantings -- in connection with "Two and a Half Men."

In the DirecTV spot, the man's inability to record his favorite shows leads him to a Turkish bath where Sheen is lounging in the pool -- displaying his bad-boy image. So I was next expecting this to build, perhaps with a reference to "Two and a Half Men."

But instead we get a reference to one of  Sheen's theatrical movies, "Platoon." The end of the spot says: “Don’t reenact scenes from ‘Platoon’ with Charlie Sheen. Get rid of cable.” Sheen's big TV exposure makes sense for a DirecTV ad. But it should be more as a hard-drinking party man than a guy in the weeds with a high-powered cross bow.

Better results were obtained in a recent Fiat commercial with Sheen, where he is featured as the bad boy just looking for a little fun -- like zipping around the inside of a big mansion at a party in a new Fiat Abarth because of a "house arrest." Tagline: "Not all bad boys are created equal." That kind of makes more sense.

No doubt all this will play into marketing into FX's "Anger Management." But that's just the first step. Look for a perhaps bigger TV marketing campaign for the show itself -- maybe starting around the end of April/beginning of May.