Would you categorize the way the Jones family lives as personal selling? Why or why not?

No, the way the Jones Family lives cannot be categorized as personal selling from “The Joneses” in the traditional sense. Personal selling typically refers to the process of a salesperson or representative of a company engaging in face-to-face communication with a potential customer to persuade them to buy a product or service. Think of the people who knock on your door selling cleaning products. In context of the movie,  the family was not actively engaging in face-to-face communication or direct selling with their neighbors or acquaintances. Instead, they were living a seemingly perfect lifestyle and using their influence and social status to indirectly promote and sell products to their peers.

While the Jones family is not actively engaging in traditional personal selling, their actions can be seen as a form of social influence or product placement. By living a luxurious lifestyle and using products in front of their peers, they are creating a desire for those products and indirectly promoting them. This type of marketing strategy is known as “lifestyle marketing” or “influencer marketing.” Although its not personal selling in the traditional sense, it does involve using social influence to promote products and indirectly persuade others to buy them.

What similarities do you see between the sales tactics the Jones family employs and the marketing tactics of some of your favorite brands? Ex:

The Joneses use a combination of social influence, product placement, word-of-mouth marketing, scarcity marketing, and emotional appeal to promote products and persuade their peers to buy them. Many brands, especially apparel, use these to help promote their product. Ever been inside Hot Topic/Spencers? Name me one employee who WASN’T completely decked out in the most awesome apparel and little charms that they sell there.
I’ll wait. 🙂
[ you can’t >:) ]

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?

The marketing tactics used by the Joneses in the movie can be seen as unethical because they are deceptive and manipulative. The Joneses are not honest about their true identity or the fact that they are promoting products on behalf of a company. Instead, they create a false persona and use their influence and social status to indirectly promote products to their peers.

This type of marketing strategy, known as stealth marketing or undercover marketing can be seen as unethical because it is deceptive and does not give consumers all the information they need to make an informed purchasing decision. They are deceptive, manipulative, and do not give consumers all the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions.

How would you feel if you were friends with someone in the Jones family before you found out their secret? What about afterward?

I would feel deceived and manipulated. My and others trust would be violated, and people may have been tricked into buying products they may not have otherwise purchased. There would be too much deception and mistrust for me to stay friends with the family. :,)