• 1. Would you categorize the way the Jones family lives as personal selling? Why or why not?
Yes. I would categorize the way the Jones family lives as personal selling. The Jones used Guerilla marketing as their personal selling techniques; their tactic was undercover/stealth marketing. The Jones made sales off their interactions with the people around them, such as their neighbors, friends from school and their hairdresser. The Jones family were the sales representatives and served as the personal connection between the company’s products and the buyer. Another reason why I agree that the Jones family is an example of personal selling because most techniques for personal selling were used in this movie. Such as Sales presentations, conversations, demonstrations, retail selling, and reference selling. The Jones Family had parties to indirectly influence their community of their goods.
• 2. What similarities do you see between the sales tactics the Jones family employs and the marketing tactics of some of your favorite brands? Give an example.
Some similarities that I see between the sales tactics the Jones family employs and the marketing tactics of some of my favorite brands are sham events and direct marketing. In the movie Kate Jones went on a walk/jog around the neighborhood and she had on her nice sweatsuit and sneakers that she was promoting. The next day the woman in the neighborhood were wearing the dame thing. I was a part of this technique when I worked for Adidas in 2017. Every season we received a new uniform and sneakers while working there. The uniform and the sneakers were the latest from the collection at the time. We were able to up sale and silently promote the items we had on. We were also able to directly answer any questions or concerns a consumer had because we were using these items firsthand.
Another example from the movie is telemarketing. When Summer and her husband Larry were having the conversation about the bills and an ad for a new flat screen popped up on the computer screen. We have all experienced telemarketing from our favorite brands. From scrolling on any of our social media platforms and then an Ad from Adidas pops up.
• 3. Based on what you read in the course materials and what you observed in this movie, do you think the way products are marketed in this movie is ethical?
Based on what I observed in the movie and what I read in the course materials from a business perspective I do think the way the products were marketed ethically. Guerrilla marketing is a risky and edgy marketing approach that uses combinations of different marketing communication tactics but in creative ways. We know that Guerilla marketing is not always “conventional” or “typical”, but it works. I am aware that someone was hurt in a car accident from the Jone’s products and that a man committed suicide, but those are the risk. I believe every company has risk. I can promote a Tesla today and someone can possibly get in an accident tomorrow. Every new product may have certain risk, and we can’t help whom abuses a product or how they internalize situations.
• 4. How would you feel if you were friends with someone in the Jones family before you found out their secret? What about afterward?
If I were friends with someone from the Jones family, I do think I would have fell a victim to wanting to keep up with the latest products that they had. I would have been eager to be around them and learn how I could obtain the things they had. After finding out their secret, I don’t think I would have been to upset. I understand this form of marketing on a business level, and when it comes to capitalizing sales, I believe in “whatever works” or “whatever it takes”.
