Nostalgia…or “nowstalgia”?

This BBC article discusses how nostalgia cycles seem to have accelerated in recent years. Typically, nostalgia runs in 20-30 year cycles.  That is enough time for kids to become adults, get some money in their pockets, and (I guess) feel sufficiently worn down by their lives to yearn for the past.

So, Pepsi’s new logo is similar to the one they used in the 1990s. Mean Girls is now at the box office for the first time since the original in 2004. Hasbro has relaunched the Furby.

While that 20-30-year standard still holds, the article contends that nostalgia is about more than just the passage of time.  It’s about a longing for a feeling from the past that is now missing. That could have been 20 years ago or it could have been last week.

The experts argue nostalgia was put on warp speed during COVID, where for a while you might have felt nostalgic about simply going to a movie theater or a bar. Plus, they contend that all the chaotic events of the past few years have shortened the nostalgia cycle in some cases – “the good old days” might have been three years ago, not 30.

This insight creates an opportunity for brands.  One example is Netflix, which last year officially mailed its last DVD, and then the next day introduced a sleeping bag that resembles the classic, old red Netflix envelopes.

And some argue the concept of “nostalgia” may be collapsing entirely. Thanks to TikTok, fashion is now drawing from every decade, all at once. Nostalgia today may be as much about remixing as it is about reviving.