How To Keep Up with the Joneses

The 2010 movie "The Joneses" predicted the mimetic influencer marketing consoomerist world we are living in today

Comrades: We must consooom to keep up with the Joneses.

A picture perfect family moves into an upscale suburban neighborhood. The dad, mom, and kids are all effortlessly attractive, successful, and hip. Always on top of the latest trends and cool new products. But none of it is real. They are stealth marketers for a perpetual stream of subtle ads. It’s all fake and gay.

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The 2010 film The Joneses is an underrated masterpiece. Chances are you haven’t seen it because it only made ~$10 million on a limited release. It predicted the future before smartphones and Instagram influencers took over. The Joneses features a family of actors hired by a marketing firm to induce mimesis in their community. In a tale of envy and greed as old as time, their neighbors scramble to consoom as they try to keep up with the Joneses. The American Dream is the ultimate brand to be sold.

Demi Moore sparkles as Kate Jones, a polished executive and head of the family “unit”. David Duchovny oozes rizz as the cool dad, Steve Jones. Amber Heard seduces as the rebellious teen daughter Jenn. Ben Hollingsworth provides a plot twist as the broody son Mick. Gary Cole and Glenne Headly steal the show as their hapless PMC striver neighbors, Larry and Summer Symonds. We all know normies like them who succumb to subversive psyops.

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The cynical boss of the unit, KC, drops in periodically. She provides performance updates and reminds them of the strategy: “If people want you, they’ll want what you’ve got.” KC dangles the reward of ICON status, the president’s club for her corporation’s top salespeople. The Joneses stoke the rat race while frantically running their own. They feel discomfort in their artificiality and its consequences. Will they break the fourth wall and seek freedom to be themselves in the real world?

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Lifestyle is the ultimate product. The “ripple effect” is when mimesis goes viral. In the age of influencers, we must pay close attention.

What are they really selling? How independent and authentic are they? Is everything a propaganda ad? How can we shield our minds and wallets from getting hacked? Are we all in a simulation? Should we make a sequel of The Joneses highlighting the 2025 addictions of Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc?

Can the American counter-cultural revolution avoid artificial consoomerism?

Drive an Audi. Wear Under Armour. Check out The Joneses on Amazon Prime ;)

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The Truman Show also predicted the future of reality TV and product placement:

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We must win the mimetic war to avoid the kinetic war: