Getting sentimental about the need for more research on nostalgia in advertising

This year’s Super Bowl, advertising’s ‘big moment’ in the U.S., with average viewership exceeding 100 million, saw very heavy use of ‘A’ list celebrities coupled with humor. This combination was so prevalent as to be almost formulaic (Taylor 2023). That said, advertisers using this formula did make significant effort to stand out and one way to do this was via the use of nostalgic appeals. For example, John Travolta sang in an ad for T-Mobile based on ‘Grease’, and send-ups of old popular movies such as Clueless and Caddyshack that have cross-generational appeal made an appearance. Interestingly, we saw some new angles on nostalgia as well, at least in the context of the Super Bowl. For example, Popcorners’ ad was a parody of the popular television series ‘Breaking Bad’, featuring the original starts of the series that ran from 2008-2013. In addition, at least a few advertisers, including Uber One and Budweiser used appeals based on more recent music, but music that appeals to people of all ages. In Uber One’s case, rapper Diddy drew on hit songs mainly from the 1990s and 2000s that were popular in the formative years of younger consumers but known to older consumers as well. In contrast, Workforce’s ad featured aging rockers including Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Jett, and Paul Stanley of Kiss, each of whom has some level of popularity across ages.