My grandmother always likes to remind me that ‘things were better in the past’. But was that really the case? Or does she remember a glamorised past, stripped of its pain and contradictions: wars, inequalities, violence? This bias in memory has a name: nostalgia, defined as the melancholic regret for something that is gone… or sometimes even for a time we never knew.
Nostalgia is not insignificant. Psychologically, nostalgia is a protective mechanism against the uncertainty of the present. It can be tricky, trapping us in a sterile cycle: wanting to resurrect a world or a comfort that no longer exists. But it is also a formidable lever of emotion and belonging, making it a powerful tool for brands and political discourse.
Why are we so drawn to nostalgia?
Researchers Constantin Sedikides (University of Southampton) and Clay Routledge (North Dakota State University) have shown that nostalgia is a universal emotion that brings several psychological benefits:
- it comforts us,
- it strengthens our sense of belonging,
- it gives meaning and consolidates our identity.
Nostalgia reassures us because it is part of the known, of what is familiar to us. It acts as a refuge from the uncertainty of the present and the anxieties of the future.
However, it is not the same for everyone. It can even create a generational divide. Indeed, someone from Generation Z will not have the same nostalgic references as someone born during the post-war economic boom. The former will think of the early days of the internet and Pokémon, while the latter will think of 1960s rock music or the great myths of the post-war period.
Yet there are points of convergence: a series, a novel, a historical reference (19th-century Romanticism, for example) can fuel a shared nostalgia, even without direct experience. These points of convergence function as cultural reference points, serving as markers of belonging for individuals who share the same culture: ‘you know it, so you belong’. In Bourdieu’s work, this impulse is reminiscent of conatus: the force that drives us to persevere in the habits and practices that define us (habitus), expressed here by loyalty to cultural or social codes that bind us to a class, a community or a collective memory. For example, knowing the lyrics to Édith Piaf’s ‘Non, je ne regrette rien’ may suggest a French cultural affiliation. These cultural reference points have always been used or exploited to connect individuals through anthems, clothing styles, stories or other elements that form a collective memory and nostalgia.
Nevertheless, during times of crisis, these commonalities and identity markers are reinforced and become bastions to be defended. Indeed, this emotion is used in many populist narratives. By promising to ‘bring back’ the greatness of an idealised past, it reassures, unites and provides clear direction, even if this is based on illusions. Donald Trump’s slogan ‘Make America Great Again’ perfectly illustrates this mechanism: it evokes a vague golden age, comforting for some, disturbing for others.
Similarly, Brexit, with its famous ‘Take Back Control’ slogan, mobilised the idea of a United Kingdom that was once in control of its own destiny. In politics, nostalgia thus becomes a simple and powerful narrative of identity that masks the complexity of the present.
This comfort is not only a political weapon, it is also a powerful commercial and marketing lever.
Brands want to speak to the child in us
Brands have long understood the power of nostalgia. They use it to build emotional loyalty and create a world where everyone can find reassuring reference points.
By tapping into memories and emotions linked to the past, brands can strengthen their connection with consumers, stand out in a competitive market and stimulate sustainable growth.
The relaunch of retro products (Nintendo mini, 90s trainers, Kinder and Coca-Cola adverts) shows how much replaying the past can provoke immediate positive emotions.
Communicating with nostalgia offers two main possibilities:
- 1. Speaking to the child within us → the child who looks back fondly and finds simple, reassuring emotions in the past.
- 2. Activating shared cultural codes → music, design, historical or aesthetic references that connect a community to a shared era.
Nostalgia is everywhere on social media. Creators are flooding various platforms with nostalgic content. For example, in recent months, the fashion codes of the 2000s have been making a comeback with the Y2K wave: literally the years 2000. The aesthetics of this culture can be found across the digital space: music, clothing, icons, etc. Brands know how to capitalise on these codes.
Many creators have even made nostalgia their signature. The account d_r_e_a_m_c0re, followed by more than 70k subscribers on TikTok, publishes numerous AI-generated videos, recreating the aesthetic of 90s bedrooms. Meanwhile, the humorous account enzo_pretgo imagines the exaggerated reactions of fathers in the 1990s and offers amusing sketches about family life and everyday life at the time.
Every year, new trends (before/after, ‘do you remember…’, television programmes) highlight nostalgia for past decades. Brands are not to be outdone: they play with these codes and do not hesitate to celebrate their 10 or 15 years of existence by launching ‘vintage’ products that reflect their former aesthetic. Peugeot, for example, has reused a version of its logo from the 1960s.
But be careful: playing with nostalgia is not the same as creating something new. It means reviving what once was, reactivating memories to re-anchor a brand in consumers’ emotional memory. This lack of innovation has been criticised, for example, in the case of Nike, which has failed to reinvent itself in its collections. It continues to ride the wave of its old collections, unlike its competitors such as Adidas, which is focusing on innovation and collaborations with emerging artists. This strategy has had repercussions on the market: Nike’s share of the global sportswear market fell from 15.2% in 2023 to 14.1% last year, according to GlobalData. Adidas’ market share rose from 8.2% to 8.9%.
Nostalgia, a common language to be used with caution
Nostalgia is appealing because it connects the intimate with the collective, personal memories with cultural memory. For communicators, it is a double-edged sword: used well, it reassures, creates bonds and inscribes a brand in a familiar history; misused, it traps us in the past and risks missing out on the present, or even becoming ‘has-been’. It can provoke a rejection effect when idealised memories clash with negative reality, as McDonald’s demonstrated in 2012 with its #McDStories campaign, which was hijacked by internet users to share their bad experiences.
In conclusion, nostalgia is not just regret or emotion. It is an invitation to revisit the past in order to better understand the present. The challenge for communicators is not to simply reproduce the images of yesterday, but to transform them into bridges to tomorrow.
By Thomas Haustant
Source: https://afmmarketingblog.wordpress.com/ 2015/10/06/nostalgia-brands-strategies/
Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (1979) Pierre Bourdieu
