Written and directed by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, the film is based on both the Archie Comics series and the Hanna-Barbera cartoon of the same name.

Meanwhile, MegaRecords CEO Fiona, in an underground meeting with world government representatives, details how the United States government has conspired with the music industry to hide subliminal messages in pop music to indoctrinate teenagers into buying consumer products as part of a new trend each week, thus helping to build a robust economy from the money the teenagers earn from minimum wage jobs such as babysitting.

Musicians who discover the hidden messages are made to disappear via staged plane crashes, drug overdoses and similar disasters.

However, Valerie increasingly resents the attention the label gives Josie rather than the band as a whole, while Melody's uncanny behavioral perception makes her suspicious of Fiona and Wyatt.

Rather than allow her to attend a gig by Alan M, claiming it was canceled, Wyatt instead gives Josie a copy of the group's latest single "You Don't See Me", which contains a subliminal message track designed to brainwash her into desiring a solo career.

MegaRecords have organized a giant pay-per-view concert that will be streamed online, wherein they plan to unleash a major subliminal message via themed cat-ears headsets that viewers must buy to hear the audio.

The government agents colluding with Fiona arrive, but with the conspiracy exposed, they arrest the pair as scapegoats to cover up their involvement in the scheme.

The concert audience removes their headsets at Josie's suggestion and, able to judge the band on its own merits for the first time, roar their approval.

Johnny Depp, Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Matt Damon appear as cardboard cut-outs during the TRL scene.

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Zooey Deschanel both auditioned for the role of Josie, and while Kaplan and Elfont were enamored with the latter, the studio did not want to cast an unknown.

[8][12] In line with its theme of subliminal advertising, the inordinate degree of product placement in the film constitutes a running gag.

[13] Almost every scene features a mention or appearance of one or more famous brands, including Sega and the Dreamcast (Sega's mascot Sonic the Hedgehog also appears in Archie Comics), Motorola, Starbucks, Gatorade, Snapple, Evian, Target, Aquafina, America Online, Pizza Hut, Cartoon Network (which has aired the cartoon series on many occasions), Revlon, Kodak, Puma, Advil, Bounce, and more.

The site's consensus states: "This live-action update of Josie and the Pussycats offers up bubbly, fluffy fun, but the constant appearance of product placements seems rather hypocritical.

Leydon wrote, "Sensationally exuberant, imaginatively crafted and intoxicatingly clever, Josie and the Pussycats shrewdly recycles a trifling curio of 1970s pop-culture kitsch as the linchpin for a freewheeling, candy-colored swirl of comicbook adventure, girl-power hijinks and prickly satirical barbs.

"[13] He concluded, "To a degree that recalls the flashy Depression era musicals and the nuclear-nightmare horror shows of the '50s, pic vividly conveys key aspects of the zeitgeist without ever stinting on the crowdpleasing fun and games.

[citation needed] In the years subsequent to its initial release, Josie and the Pussycats has been reappraised by critics, and has found success as a cult film.

[26] Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times wrote in 2017 that the film's "sharply satirical vision of the hyper-commercial record industry feels only more relevant.