Nostalgia in Advertising

As consumers the advertisements we view daily have increased tremendously. From the Internet, to mobile, to video advertising; the World Wide Web is taking over. Consumer behavior is based on a large variety of details and cannot be simply described in one word. There are a variety of approaches to reaching consumers in the advertising of a product. As humans we all have a bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past. This statement simply defines nostalgia. Marketers and Advertisers use nostalgic advertising to connect with their consumers. The use of nostalgia as an advertising approach has been pushed by numerous trade publications as an extremely effective and persuasive advertising tactic. Advertisers connect their brands by using words, pictures, music or scenes with a by-gone era to remind viewers of their promotions. With this, they hope these nostalgic feelings can reminds consumers in a positive way and affect their attitudes and buying behaviors. A variety of marketing research studies do show that the use of nostalgia in advertising does stimulate attention, is entertaining, is persuasive, and reminds nostalgic reflections in consumers. Not only do the ads create positive emotions, consumers recall mental images of former situations and experiences. In comparison studies, nostalgic advertising induces more positive emotions and more intensive mental images than non-nostalgic advertisements. (http://dmn3.com/_blog/DMN3_Blog/post/hh/) The combination of emotions and images brought to the consumer’s attention by the ad generates a positive resonance toward both the ad and the product being advertised.
Nostalgic advertising has been a common trend in companies, and it appears to be a popular theme during economically troubling times. When the recession began in 2008, and continued to take a toll on the economy marketers used the approach of tapping into fond memories to help sell what few products shoppers were still