90ScHICK

Nostalgia and Pop Culture

 

Teens and young adults are currently part of a generation that is unlike any other before them. With the heavy influx of technology and social media, new lifestyles are created that encompass and embrace everyday innovation and rapid change. Lives are made more and more complicated, and marketers are finding new ways to capture the attention of today’s changing public. The rise of nostalgia in advertising and commercial culture is a popular trend in the media today. In a time of rapid change, memory and nostalgia have become a new form of cultural identity and commercial style.

 

The present-day population is a mixed, heterogeneous blend of people with different backgrounds, aspirations, and desires. One factor that brings them together, though, is their memories of the past and their ideas towards the future. Significant events such as the recession, the invasiveness of technology into everyday lives and media, and future outlooks have left the public in a state of confusion and fearful anticipation. This is where nostalgia steps in; the consumption of nostalgia is something that is well-received across all audiences regardless of culture or background. To the individual, nostalgia is defined as a sense of longing for home and what was once lost. This home might be real, or it might not even have been present at all. The same evoked set of emotions, however, is present amongst all audiences and is constantly used as a descriptor for the golden age myth. Studies and focus groups have shown that people highly value the simpler, “good ol” times that memories of the past offered. Andrew Wernick of Trend University states that the proliferation of nostalgia arises from a change in values, a shift in where “the progressive future has lost its ideological force and the arrow of time has been reversed” (Grainge, 2000).

 

According to Marchegiani and Phau, there are two main forms of nostalgia: personal and historical. Personal nostalgia arises from a longing for the personally-experienced past as well as all the memories, events, and people involved in it. Advertisers often move beyond traditional personal nostalgia and use childhood memories as a general, overarching theme in ad campaigns. This, in turn, forms a closer bond between the advertiser and the consumer. On the other hand, Marchegiani states that the current trend in younger consumers’ fascination with “retro” items is an example of historical nostalgia. This is extremely prevalent in the fashion, movie, and food industries. The younger generation does not necessarily have to have firsthand experience or memories associated with the nostalgia; rather, nostalgic emotions are evoked through a set of constructed fantasies about a more desirable past (Marchegiani et. Phau, 2010).

 

Susan Holak and William Havlena of Rutgers University conducted a study involving 62 individuals of varying demographics and cultures, who provided a set of 164 experience descriptions and respective emotional responses to different descriptions and triggers. The survey found that family and friends was an important element in many experiences reported by the subjects. As for events, holidays and birthdays were highly memorable. Tangible and intangible objects including music, food, and film were depicted as key nostalgia stimuli. Havlena concluded that “nostalgia connects individuals, objects, and events across time and place” (1998). Therefore, it is easy to understand why bands suddenly go “back to basic” after releasing a continuous stream of new content, or why Coke began to sell the “Classic” formula again in their traditional glass bottles, or even why vintage clothing became so popular among “hipsters.”

 

Why is nostalgic advertising so successful, then? Stephen Brown, a professor at the University of Ulster claims that the present-day consumer’s obsession with the past can be explained in terms of historical migration patterns. The rise of urbanism in the 19th century and its growth during the 20th century had transformed a once-agrarian society into an urban one. This also marked the loss of a sense of community spirit, belonging, and sense of place. Retro products such as “local kitchen gardens” and “farmer’s markets,” for example, are able to evoke nostalgia and a longing for past times of community for the modern city dweller (1999).

 

Holak and Havlena go on to state that this era of post-modernism is an important factor of the popularity of nostalgia advertising. Many believe that all that can be done has been done, and all that remains is to go back to basics and mix and match pieces of the past to form the ideal product. Because of this reason, Marlboro markets a cowboy that evokes images of the West that never was, and Kentucky Fried Chicken continuously boasts of its “traditional” recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation and has never been tweaked (1999).

 

In the past, there have been several successful nostalgic campaigns that were launched by major companies. Pepsi’s Throwback Atari Arcade, for example, was an online campaign that allowed people to play classic Atari games for the chance to win prizes. The classic Pepsi can is prevalent in these campaigns, evoking images of simpler times with games and soft drinks. The campaign was able to provide Pepsi with a competitive edge, while helping to recover lost brand value as well.

 

In 2005, McDonald’s released the “Feed your Inner Child” campaign, which proved to be highly successful. The ad began with an office worker who is reaching onto a shelf to put away a file. Suddenly, she freezes as a child appears in front of her. The child proceeds to go on with the office worker’s daily routines. Across town, the ad shows the inner child of bus drivers, swimmers, joggers, window washers, and other adults. The crowds of children arrive at McDonald’s to enjoy a meal, and a narrator tells viewers to “come see what’s changed and feed your inner child.” This ad was able to evoke personal nostalgia and bring out memories of simpler times as a child. Other companies such as Coca-Cola, Ovaltine, and Good and Plenty often employ nostalgic advertising as well to evoke certain sets of memories in association with their products and brand. The success of previous campaigns have proven that consumers respond positively to this form of advertising (Sharma, 2010).

 

Another example of successful nostalgic advertising is Main Street, USA, the entrance to Disneyland parks around the world. This corridor offers the appearance of a community-style, public space that evokes nostalgia towards the early twentieth century. This street is frozen in time; it is a snapshot of America, a reconciliation of the past that everyone longs for and remembers, a small-town community that is reproduced in so many different locations around the world. Upon entering the park, visitors are engulfed in “familiar” streets from their childhood days, one that existed on old TV shows and Hollywood films. This display exemplifies the modern anxieties of society and their longing for a sense of community that cannot be achieved in city landscapes and suburban sprawls. Deborah Philips states in her publication that Main Street is an “imagined community” that “draws on a myth of the American West.” The street is littered with memories of better times, a family-owned vehicle garage with vintage cars, an old-fashioned soda shop, and a camera emporium, are all stores that evoke heavy nostalgia amongst all shoppers. Shoppers and visitors are able to feel a sense of belonging again, a sense that was lost after the Industrial Revolution and spread apart during times of suburban flight (Phillips, 2002).

 

Nostalgic advertising is everywhere, and it is a tactic that has gained much recognition and success in the past few years. This type of advertising is so successful because it brings people with similar fears, hopes, and experiences together through evoked emotions. Demographics and cultures may be different across customers, but most people share memories of their grandparents feeding them Campbell’s soup when they were sick as a kid, or opening up a bottle of Coke after playing outside in the summer. These sentiments are felt by both adults and children. Nostalgia is able to transcend across age, gender, and demographic differences to unite customers together.

 

Works Cited

 

Brown, Stephanie. "Retro-Marketing: Yesterday's Tomorrows, Today." Marketing Intelligence and Planning 17.7 (1999): 363-76. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

 

Grainge, Paul D. "Advertising the Archive: Nostalgia and the (Post)national Imaginary." American Studies 3rd ser. 41.2 (2000): 137-57. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

 

Havlena, William J., and Susan L. Holak. "The Good Old Days: Observations on Nostalgia and Its Role in Consumer Behavior." Advances in Consumer Research 18 (1999): 323-29. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

 

Marchegiani, Christopher, and Ian Phau. "Effects of Personal Nostalgic Response Intensity on Cognitions, Attitudes, and Intentions." Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing 4.3 (2010): 241-56. Print.

 

Phillips, Deborah. "Consuming the West: Main Street, USA." Space and Cuture 5.1 (2002): 29-41. SAGE Journals. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

 

Sharma, Muskan. "Nostalgic Marketing-The Legend with Past." International Journal in Multidisciplinary and Academic Research 2.3 (2010): n. pag. JSTOR. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.