THE POWER OF REFLECTION: An Empirical Examination of Nostalgia Advertising Effects

Despite its popularity as a desired response to advertisements, nostalgia--an individual's yearning for an idealized past--has received surprisingly little academic research attention in the advertising literature. The current study was designed to address this void by exploring thoughts and attitudinal responses of consumers exposed to nostalgic (versus non-nostalgic) advertisements. The results of our investigation suggest that nostalgic cues in advertising do indeed influence the type of thoughts consumers have during ad exposure, and that these thought processes appear to have an influence on attitudes toward the advertisement and advertised brand. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.