Advertising Movie
ByLast night I saw “The Joneses” which is a new movie about a family that seems picture perfect on the outside. It turns out that they are actually a hired team of marketers who will go to great lengths to sell luxury items to an upscale neighborhood. I think everyone should go see this movie because of its relevance to our class. It is all about the power of word of mouth. The family literally wears the brands they need to sell, say a few words about what they are wearing to their potential or “target” audience, and before you know it, the whole town has whatever items the Joneses have. These marketers were spreading WOM and making their consumers unbelievably happy. One happy customer would run off and tell the other that they needed to buy a certain item. The movie did make me question the virtue of selling and advertising in general. It’s scary to think how far marketers could go to sell their product. To actually impersonate a rich family in order to sell brands was something I never even thought could happen. I know this was a movie, but it made me wonder if anyone in the real world has done something like this before. Anyway, everyone should go see the movie or read more about it online!
http://www.thejonesesmovie.com/gallery.html
6 Comments
April 27th, 2010 at 10:57 am
I haven’t seen it, but have read about it. I will see it once its out on DVD, but I think its a very interesting idea. Is being paid to live a lie in order to spread brands morally ok? I don’t know if companies do actually practice this, but if they do I doubt they make it publicly known for good reason.
April 30th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
from Allison Spedale:
I would really hope that companies would never do something like this if it’s anything like the way they do it in the movie. Not to be a spoiler, but something bad does happen in the movie as a result of the lying marketers. I think companies would really have to consider how far they are willing to go to get people to buy their brand. At the end of the day, they really have to ask themselves if what they are doing is worth it or not. Most of the time, it may be worth it for the money, but it’s not worth it for the lies and manipulation in my opinion.
April 30th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Wow that’s funny how relevant the movie is to our class. Pretty much wraps up WOM which we have been talking about all semester! However, I do agree that it is scary how much people can influence what we want to purchase. For example, I went to buy sunglasses on Friday and even though I had my heart set on a gold pair, the sales lady said I should ‘Defiantly go with the gunmetal.’ So I ended up with the ‘gunmetal’ silver pair. Thinking back on it, was she just pushing those to get the inventory sold? Or did they actually look cute? I don’t know but the truth of it is that I am extremely influenced by sales people and WOM, and I’m sure many other Americans are the same
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Liz, that is something I ask myself all the time! When I have buyers remorse I usually blame it on the salespeople to want to get their inventory sold. That’s probably not right, but it’s an easy way out. Don’t you agree? I saw this movie last week and really did enjoy it. Allison is right, we wouldn’t want to spoil it but yes, Haynes, it the WOM seems to be proved morally wrong.
The Joneses has a great message. Honestly, I think they are onto to a problem in our society. We are so wrapped up in what everyone is wearing, doing and using whatever is trendy or cool. I also wonder if any companies paid for product placement? It would be interesting to research.
May 3rd, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Liz I agree that I am more willing to buy anything that someone tells me “I just have to have”. And Lauren it’s definitely easy to blame the salespeople! I agree with your view on the message of the movie. It’s scary to think how far people are willing to go to enjoy the luxuries of life. Some of the products used in the movie like that juice drink for instance were name brands I had never heard of. I am not sure if they were made up for the movie or not. However, they did name-drop a few brands such as YSL.
May 3rd, 2010 at 2:32 pm
This sounds like undercover bzz agents…minus the deception. Like everyone else I would hope marketers would never sink to this level. However, if they did would we really even notice?
Lauren, I think you are completely right about our cultural being too materialistic. I think there’s a thin line between manipulating people to buy something, and convincing someone that the given product is the best choice.