Exploring the Boundaries of Nostalgic Advertising Effects: A Consideration of Childhood Brand Exposure and Attachment on Consumers’ Responses to Nostalgia-Themed Advertisements

Abstract

This study examines empirically the differential influence of past brand associations (specifically, in-home childhood brand exposure and past personal attachment) on consumers' reactions to nostalgia-themed advertisements. Results support the expectation that the effect of nostalgia on brand-focused outcomes (purchase intentions and brand attitude) will be most pronounced for those who have had some past personal association with the advertised brand. However, this effect was not observed for ad-focused responses (ad involvement and attitude toward the ad); as hypothesized, the nostalgic ad produced more favorable responses than the non-nostalgic ad, irrespective of participants' past association with the brand.

Acknowledgments

Darrel D. Muehling (PhD, University of Nebraska–Lincoln) is a professor of marketing, College of Business, Washington State University.

David E. Sprott (PhD, University of South Carolina) is a professor of marketing, College of Business, Washington State University.

Abdullah J. Sultan (PhD, Washington State University) is an assistant professor, Department of Management and Marketing, Kuwait University.

Notes

1. Findings of a prestudy conducted by the authors (not reported in this article) support such a notion. When ads featuring the iconic Coca-Cola brand were employed, measures of ad-evoked nostalgia indicated that although the nostalgic ad treatment produced significantly more nostalgic thoughts than did the nonnostalgic ad, the mean value for the nonnostalgic ad was above the scale midpoint.