An Empirical Investigation of the Differential Effects of Personal, Historical, and Non-Nostalgic Advertising on Consumer Responses

Using a theory-driven approach, this study investigates whether and/or to what extent consumers' informationprocessing tendencies and ad-based responses are differentially influenced by the introduction of nostalgic cues (either "personal" or "historical" in nature) embedded in an advertisement. The results support hypothesized expectations that personal nostalgia (a yearning for one's past) generally outperforms both historical and non-nostalgic advertising when measures of self-directed thoughts, positive affect, and attitude toward the ad are considered. However, when cognitive measures (i.e., brand/message-related cognitive responses and message recall) are considered, a personally nostalgic ad is shown to be comparable to a historical nostalgic ad, but inferior to a non-nostalgic ad. Regression results utilizing cognitive response data further indicate that individuals' brand attitudes are differentially influenced by the type of nostalgia evoked. Practical and theoretical implications for the study's findings are discussed, and future research directions are presented.