‘A wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.’ (Webster)
‘Sentimental longing for things that are past.’(Baron)
Two definitions to describe Nostalgia. The first focuses on the specific but it does not take into account that it does not have to be your home or a family member but it could be a toy, a football match or a tree you used to climb. I much prefer the second definition, short and very, very sweet.
Nostalgia is basically having a warm, fuzzy feeling about the past and as said before it can be about anything. Personally, the thought of a warm bath after a family walk on a sunday gives me goose pimples. We are only interested however in how it is used in advertising. The general idea of an advert is to get a reaction from someone or preferably many people opposed to turning over the channel or flipping to the next page. After actually getting a reaction you would then want it to be a positive one! That is where nostalgia comes in.
Hovis have captured it fantastically covering over 100 years which one way or another tweaks that feeling of how easy it was to be young. The key components of this advert are the senses. The smell of the bread, the fear in the eyes before the war, the sound of music in the 80's. All these factors help the consumer gain the feeling of nostalgia.
I have discovered an interesting forum where you can post stuff that you remember from any decade and see if anyone else feels the same. I think I may just have to tell them about my sunday afternoon walks!
