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1. Introduction
As fields of study develop, they invent, advance and sometimes rediscover concepts, methods and practices in response to their focal concerns and their surrounding environments. These developments, in turn, help to shape the future development of the field. Following this tradition, the present study is designed to assess how “nostalgia,” originally a medical problem, has transformed itself from disease to industry practice. The concept of nostalgia has existed for several hundreds of years (Davis, 1979; Merchant et al., 2013), and its occurrence is prevalent among both individuals and groups (Routledge et al., 2013). One can find psychographics such as response to sensory stimuli (Bergs et al., 2019; Holbrook and Schindler, 1989), values (Aziz et al., 2019), personality (Juhl et al., 2010; Rindfleisch et al., 2000), attitude (Sierra and McQuitty, 2007) and interests (Huppatz, 2009) linked to nostalgia. Additionally, the literature reports demographics that variables such as gender (Davis, 1979), social class (Greenberg et al., 2004), temporal orientation (Sierra and McQuitty, 2007), cultural groups (Hepper et al., 2014) and age (Madoglou et al., 2017) facilitate nostalgia. Further, experiences such as strong social bonds, practicing hobbies (Holbrook and Schindler, 2003) and momentous life events (Zhou et al., 2011) all help to build nostalgia memory. Notably, unique experiences such as first-time experiences or experiences based on constant practicing serve best to inculcate nostalgia (Holbrook and Schindler, 2003).
Many companies use nostalgia to position their products and brands in the marketplace to differentiate themselves from competitors, thus creating an emotional attachment to the brands and influencing preferences for product purchase by connecting consumers to previous experiences (Thomson et al., 2005). Some examples include the recent launch of the augmented reality Pokémon Go app (Quentin, 2016), the re-launch of Nokia’s 3310 cell phone (Titcomb, 2017) and the reintroduction of the Nintendo NES Classic Mini (Cuff, 2017). Based on these leanings, several researchers have tested nostalgic feelings with products and objects, ranging from specific products such as jewelry and automobiles (Baker and Kennedy, 1994) to food and eating habits (Vignolles and Pichon, 2014). From a marketing perspective, nostalgia has been identified as an underlying theme in many marketing and advertising strategies (Cosgrove and Sheridan, 2002) and has been...