The Dark Side of Nostalgic Bonds: Moral Motivators of Consumer Identities, Decisions and Behaviours

This chapter explains why and how nostalgia impacts consumer identities, choices, and behaviours and with what effects. It deals with through a consumer behaviour perspective of individual and collective identity as it pertains to nostalgia, memory and action. The consumer behaviour field widely recognises that individuals consume in ways that are consistent with their identities. Formed over time and based in both personal experiences and learned cultural norms and histories, identity is foundational for sense-making and nostalgic yearning related to the past. Nostalgia is a label that has a long history of being used to make sense of complex, multi-dimensional emotions and outcomes of human behaviour. Nostalgia, as an emotion, is a separate and distinct construct from cognition or memories attached to a stimulus Empirical support for this assertion comes from Stacey Menzel Baker and Patricia Kennedy who found that ad-induced nostalgia is positively related to, but distinct from, attitude toward an advertisement.