Good Ole Days

Because of a recent recession many advertisers have had to come up with many ways to sell their products. One of the strategies that they use is nostalgic advertising. What this means is that if we hear a song from the 80s in a commercial and we're from the 80s then the ad is tapping into our childhood which will result in positive thoughts about that particular ad. For example, McDonald's has some ads that bring people back to the 50s when you could go to a "burger spot" and get a burger and shake.

This makes you think about your childhood and when McDonald's was more personable to you, not  just this mass corporation that just wants your money. This is a very effective way of advertising, and works with lots of different things. Remakes of movies are very effective. We see lots of movies being remade at this time so that people relive their childhood's brightest moments. Music on the radio always brings you back to the good ole days.
I feel as if nostalgic advertising is a positive thing. You get to take the stress out of your modern living in order to relive the past.  This brings joy to your brand, and what can be better than that? On the flip side, what if you have bad memories of the 80s and you hear an 80s song on the ad? Well this would most likely mean that person will not be purchasing your product. So it is your companies risk to take, but more often than not nostalgic advertising will prevail as a positive thing. I think that if we have a thought about the past every now and again it is not bad, but living in the past can be crippling. With that said, the companies that can bring you to the past for a brief moment and bring you back to reality will succeed.
There are some companies who should probably never use this style of advertising. For example, these companies are Apple, Microsoft, and Toshiba. This is because old technology is looked down upon. If apple had a advertisement of this picture would you go out and buy an Apple computer?