Historical and Personal Nostalgia in Advertising Text: TheFin de siècleEffect

Abstract This paper uses literary criticism as the basis for stimulus-side analysis of nostalgia in advertising text. It provides a historical context for modern nostalgia by discussing the phenomenon as a fin de siècle or “end of century” cultural effect. It presents a nostalgia taxonomy by distinguishing between two types of nostalgia — historical and personal — that determine advertising elements of plot, setting, characters, and values inherited from literary antecedents. It analyzes each type in commercial communications, using advertisements, periodicals, and direct mail catalogues as examples. Personal and historical nostalgia advertisements are linked to consumer effects of, respectively, empathy and idealization of the self. Eight propositions are developed for additional research in three areas: content analysis, different gender responses, and effects on consumer values.