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Nostalgia as a marketing phenomenon
Nostalgia in marketing literature is commonly associated with the individual’s yearning for the past and their longing for yesterday (Holbrook, 1993). It is recognized as a bittersweet or wistful emotion, mood or feeling that will create positive functions for an individual (Baker & Kennedy, 1994; Belk, 1990; Wildschut et al., 2010; Wildschut et al., 2011). Nostalgia enhances the individual’s positive attitude, self-regard, any form of social connection, and their existential meaning (Hepper et al., 2012). The individual’s nostalgic memories are those that are highly emotional, consistent and therefore idealized.
Nostalgia and its social connection with the individual and the frequency that it is involved in one’s everyday life is perceived by Belk (1990) and Stern (1992) as a preference or desire for people, places, or things (e.g., media) – this is however from a distinct time or decade in the past, even before one’s birth. These nostalgic memories do not entail one’s experiences, but create their attitude towards a past era (i.e. 1960s or 1970s) and the life, culture and conditions of the society at that time, creating an attitude in their belief that time was more superior to the present (Stern, 1992). It is important that nostalgia can be associated with any person, regardless of their gender, age, ethnicity, social class or any other form of social grouping (Greenberg, Koole & Pyszczynski 2004).
The concept of nostalgia
Consumer behavior field has started to study nostalgia in terms of what is its definition, its origin and characteristics. Its definition is bound to the psychoanalytic literature, where the term signifies a bittersweet longing for home (Holak & Havlena 1992). Nostalgia is perceived as an emotional state
of an individual who yearns for an idealized or sanitized experience of an earlier time period. This is
conveyed by the individual’s attempt to recreate an element of the past into their present life via reproduction of past activities or by recollection of any symbolic representations of the past in memory. However, the idealized past is one that either never existed or the individual’s idealized perception of it automatically erases any negative traces (Hirsch 1992). The individual’s uncertainty is encapsulated in Jacoby’s (1985) definition of nostalgia, defining it as an individual’s longing for a
psychically utopian version of the past.
Consumer behavioral research has often implied the importance of nostalgic appeals for highly effective and persuasive marketing and advertising techniques (Baker & Kennedy 1994; Havlena & Holak 1991; Muehling & Sprott 2004; Pascal, Sprott, & Muehling, 2002). It is often referenced in marketing as “a preference (general liking, positive attitude, or favorable affect) toward objects (people, places, or things) that were more common (popular, fashionable, or widely circulated) when one was younger (in early adulthood, in adolescence, in childhood, or even before birth” (Holbrook & Schindler, 1991, p. 330). Nostalgia has been exhibited as a tool to significantly influence many consumer reactions essential to marketing and advertising. These include brand loyalty and meaning, self-concept, the human senses, affecting their attitude formation, their cognition and memory process, the consumer’s preferences, emotions, collective memory and literary criticism (Muehling & Sprott, 2004; Naughton & Vlasic, 1998). Nostalgia also has been found to affect people regardless of their gender, age, ethnicity, or any other demographic variables (Greenberg et al., 2004).
Stern (1992) implies that the nostalgic appeals in marketing and advertising trigger into the consumer’s array of memories by reviving products, their packages and promotions associated with the past. Advertisers claim effective use of nostalgia helps to capitalize on the brand equity possessed via its recycled advertising (Winters, 1990). This concept allows the consumers to recreate the past through the nostalgic consumption despite that they cannot literally return to the past.
I. INTRODUCTION .
1.1 BACKGROUND
1.2 RESEARCH
1.3 CONTRIBUTION LIMITATIONS
1.4 KEY DEFINITIONS
II. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1 NOSTALGIA ASA MARKETING PHENOMENON
2.2 DESIRE FOR UNIQUENESS
2.3 SPECIFIC AGE COHORT: THE MILLENNIALS
2.4 SHOPPING MOTIVATIONS
2.5 CONCEPTUAL MODEL AND HYPOTHESES
2.6 SUMMARY
III. METHODOLOGY
3.1 RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY & APPROACH
3.2 DATA COLLECTION METHOD
3.3 RESEARCH DESIGN
3.4 RESEARCH METHOD
3.5 SAMPLING METHOD
3.6 RESEARCH QUALITY
3.7 SUMMARY
IV. ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
V. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
VI. REFERENCES .
VII. APPENDIX
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The Unique Nostalgic Shopper Nostalgia proneness and desire for uniqueness as determinants of shopping behavior among Millennials
