Nostalgia? I Barely Know Her
By: Michael Malone
Tags: Holidays, History, Christmas, Marketing Strategies, Nostalgia

The holiday season is upon us once again, so I thought this would be a perfect time to talk about something that plagues all of us around this time of year; Nostalgia.

I went down a rabbit hole researching the backstory on thinking about our own backstory and I was shocked at what I found. Although we in the modern era find nostalgia to be a warm and fuzzy feeling that lives inside our hearts and festive holiday mugs, it didn’t start out that way. In fact, nostalgia was once considered an illness.

In the 17th century, Swiss mercenaries who had served abroad (that part is important) started showing symptoms of fatigue, insomnia, irregular heartbeats, indigestion, and fevers that were so severe they had to be discharged.

At the time, this condition was widely known as Heimweh (homesickness) but what these soldiers were experiencing seemed more powerful than that. Fatal even.

In 1688 a medical student from the University of Basel by the name of, Johannes Hofer decided he was going to do a dissertation on this peculiar condition. This pre-mid-century Doogie Howser studied a handful of these cases and discovered that these symptoms weren’t caused by a physical sickness like a cold or flu. No, instead Doogie Hofer linked their symptoms to an intense yearning of their mountain homelands. As they say in horror films, the call was coming from inside the house. Meaning, their own minds were causing them to become ill.

Johannes later named this more fatal condition of homesickness, “Nostalgia” after the Greek word “Nostos” which means “Homecoming” and “Algos” for pain.

Johannes Hofer

Hofer’s studies also cited that nostalgia didn’t affect everyone. His research showed that it was mainly young adults who have been sent for extended stays in “foreign lands with alien customs” were the ones who were suffering from nostalgia the most. Claiming that, “The young are less equipped to handle the misfortunes and troubles of living abroad” and that they would become fixated on the “charm of the Fatherland.”

At just 19 years old, living far from his own home town, Hofer knew first hand about falling prey to this new fatal condition. His studies on nostalgia taught us a lot about the human psyche but its problem was, Hofer, focused too much on linking his subject’s sadness to their homeland. The dissertation reads almost like a grievance with nationalism. Hofer thought these people missed their literal homeland, but as we know now, nostalgia is about the memories and feelings of your metaphorical home. Someplace you feel comfortable and safe. Like a Panera Bread with great Wi-Fi.

Flash forward a few centuries later and humans began to migrate. Colonies and countries were claimed and those explorers started to experience nostalgia as well. In the 19th century, this term was no longer reserved for deployed soldiers. It began to carry over to ordinary journeymen around the world who had been separated from their native place for long periods of time.

By the 20th century, doctors no longer viewed nostalgia as a neurological disease but instead as a mental condition similar to depression. For the next few decades after that, physiatrists and doctors linked nostalgia exclusively to the painful longing of someone’s past or even a desire to return back to the fetal state. Kind of like adults who wear diapers and enjoy baby talk, minus the kink.

Then two important things happened; the meaning of nostalgia changed from “homesickness” to a general longing for the past. Which is a total game-changer. So we’ve gone from grieving nationalism in the 17th century, to missing those warm memories of your childhood in the late 20th century.

The other thing that changed was that nostalgia stopped being viewed as a fatal disease and people began to view it as a pleasant experience. Nostalgia is kind of like vegetables. When you’re young they make you depressed but as you get older they somehow become quite enjoyable.

So what caused this big shift? Fucking science, duh.

Scientists and psychologists switched from Pure Theory to Systematic Empirical Observation. Don’t get scared, that’s just a big fancy word for observing the experience and making notes. Basically, they begin to ask general moral opinions about the nostalgia people were experiencing rather than answering questions about it with equations on chalkboards.

This opened up a new and important world of discovery. One of the many things they found through this different approach had to do with negative symptoms associated with nostalgia. Those feelings were only being correlated with nostalgia not caused by it. Which is a big fucking deal because that means, even though nostalgia can cause feelings of sadness, and depression it’s also capable of the opposite. Research showed that when people reminisced about personally meaningful and rewarding experiences of their past, nostalgia actually boosted their physiological well-being.

Nostalgia is like Taco Bell. Yes, severe diarrhea is a correlation to eating it when you’re drunk at 3 A.M. but it’s not always the causation of it. Sometimes you can eat Taco Bell and experience pure joy.

Sidenote; the only rap battle I want to see in 2021 is Correlation vs Causation. It’s not the battle we deserve, but it’s the battle we need.

Through these new studies, scientists learned that inducing people with nostalgia could boost their mood in a positive way, make them feel socially accepted through bonding, and even make people feel more charitable. The potential for nostalgia was endless.

So what did we do with all of this new information? Well, we weaponized it, of course.

That’s right! After advertisers discovered how powerful the influence of nostalgia was they started using it against us to peddle us their goods. Commercials started using phrases like “remember when” to immediately capture our attention. That phrase alone was used as a shot to your upper arm, instantly injecting us with their nostalgia serum.

This is especially useful in today’s digital world. Everything in this space is so cold and unattached that it makes it difficult for advertisers to sink their teeth into us. So they use nostalgia to instantly create a connection. The key is to create an emotional hook using nostalgia while offering some new product.

Need an example?

In 2019, Doritos aired a Super Bowl commercial featuring the Backstreet Boys. The Backstreet Boys (according to google) is an American pop supergroup that became popular during the 1990s and 2000s. Doritos used a strategy that is known as “Collective Memory.” They showcase the Backstreet Boys (collective memory) to induce nostalgia at it’s finest to sell us Flaming Hot Nacho flavored Doritos (new product). Thus causing everyone watching the 60-second commercial to bust out their old dance moves, sing way out of tune and go out and buy a fuck ton of Doritos.

Is this illegal?

No, of course not. It’s own our fault. We crave connection. That’s why we have nineteen apps on our phones that's only purpose is to stay connected to the people we don’t actually want to stay connected with in person.

Tik Tok lets us watch each other dance. Instagram allows us to lie to other people about how well we’re doing in life and Facebook is for your parents to argue about vaccines. But at the end of the day, it’s all about connection. So if Doritos can make you feel like they are your best friend, then that’s your own dumb fault. It’s not a legal case.

Now, is it morally legal? I don’t know. Advertisers are using our own emotional reactions against us. I mean, it’s borderline physiological warfare. If you knew that there was some magical phrase you could use that would convince complete strangers into giving you five dollars whenever you used it… would you? Are you any better than Nissan or Doritos?

The truth is, we use special phrasing all the time to help navigate our interactions to get us to the emotional destination we want. Whether you want to admit it or not, we have all gone over a script in our heads to present to someone we need a favor from. That’s kind of the same thing, right?

“You remember my friend Steve, right? He came to your birthday party and we ended up dancing on that table to the Beastie Boys. Anyways, he needs ______.”

You just did it — Guilty! That is nostalgia marketing on a personal level. Collective memory, too. Nice job. You’re a pro. So what’s the difference between you and Coca-Cola? Besides billions of dollars? And yeah, billion with a fat capital, “B”.

For starters, you might be using nostalgia marketing without even knowing it but more importantly, what you’re gaining is a day off from work or a few extra bucks here and there. Companies like Coca-Cola, Doritos, and Sony are using it to gain major capital. That’s the difference. Greed versus personal gain.

I started writing this piece out of general curiosity but the more I learned about that fuzzy feeling that lives inside our hearts and festive holiday mugs, the uglier nostalgia got. However, we have the power to change that. The next time you see the original cast of “Saved by the Bell” on a Super Bowl commercial, don’t fall prey to the new flavor they’re peddling. Instead, bask in the nostalgia. Enjoy those positive vibes and remind yourself that you still haven’t finished off that bag of Doritos in your kitchen you already have.