While the vintage and retro trend in consumption cannot be overlooked in times of economic turmoil, this study examines the way advertisers have tapped into this global trend by implementing nostalgia in magazine advertisements. A sample of 1,116 advertisements published in 9 major consumer magazines between July 2012 and June 2013 served to analyze the prominence of both individual and historic types of nostalgia across product categories and target groups. In accordance with Davis’ discontinuity thesis (1979) the results indicate first a higher occurrence and prominence of nostalgic cues in times of crisis compared to previous studies. Second, nostalgia is particularly found in soft sell advertising strategies for food and clothing. Third, nostalgic advertisements are female oriented, whereas no common ground or differences according to age can be found. Implications and opportunities for both mainstream and targeted advertising are discussed while scrutinizing quantitative coding in content analysis and drawing a tentative research agenda for future qualitative research.
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