The Good Ol Days

Nostalgia is defined as "a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time" Nostalgic Advertising utilizes consumer's emotions in order to relay a message that connects them to their past, insisting that buying the product will allow them to relive those moments again.Nostalgia is a powerful tool for advertising because it's a natural instinct.  Naturally, when times are tough and our current financial, emotional, or relational situations aren't what we expected, we tend to look back on the past.  It's easier to think about the times where we had less responsibilities and the future seemed more hopeful.  We can look back and remember being happy and care free.  That is why some of our current advertisements have a retro feel to them, bringing back familiar jingles and characters.  What is trending in fashion has been seen before, reflecting the styles of the 50's where men had nicely combed hair and women wore collared shirts with skirts.  This is not because we have run out of ideas, but because we want to replicate how things were back in those times.  During the 50's,  Americans were coming home after winning WWII.  Not only were husbands reunited with their families, but new inventions were created during wartime and the husbands had money to spend on them. Our current fashion trends follow those of the past to bring back those memories of victory and togetherness.

Nostalgia used in advertising can be beneficial.  It's cheaper to play off of old ideas rather than risking new ones because the older ones already give the product brand equity and high recognition.  People are already familiar with things they've seen before and also makes them feel younger to reminisce.
  This type of advertising wouldn't be as affective if there were negative associations with the product or if it has been altered in a way consumers disagree.  For example, when Coke tried to change its formula to "New Coke", consumers were upset because they liked how their Coke tasted already.  It would be difficult for a nostalgic ad to be successful because it has to be relevant to its target customers and old enough for it to be appreciated as retro, not out-dated.

It would be hard to make nostalgic ads about technology because it is something that is ever-changing.  Usually, technologic ads focus on the potential of the future rather than looking back on its poor graphics and performance.  An example of a current nostalgia ad is the Internet Explorer video.  The tagline of it is "You've grown up, so have we."  Throughout the video, it shows different trends of pop culture with familiar fluorescent colors and soft music in the background.  The ad allows consumers to reminisce on how old computers used to function and reflect on how far technology has come since then.  This ad wouldn't be that successful because looking back on the product, it had horrible performance overall.  Consumers wouldn't be able to see how the speed has changed and instead remember the hard times they had streaming or getting connected to the internet.