Commentary

Enough About '90s Nostalgia

Snyder’s of Hanover has resurrected Jackie Chiles, the combative attorney from "Seinfeld," as advertisers ride a wave of ‘90s nostalgia.

Other ‘90s nostalgia ads of late include Staples, which recently ran an ad in which workers grooved to the 1992 Ace of Base hit “The Sign;” Uber, which ran a Super Bowl ad featuring "Wayne’s World" characters Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth (Dana Carvey); Goldfish, which ran a ‘90s-themed ad; and Pepsi exhuming Crystal Pepsi, a brand from the early ‘90s.

Nostalgia typically takes about 20 years to kick in. In the 1980s, 1960s nostalgia ruled TV (“The Wonder Years,” “China Beach”) the movies (“Platoon,” “Dirty Dancing”) and music (classic rock). In the ‘90s, there was a flashback to the 1970s on TV (“That 70s Show”) and movies (“Boogie Nights”).

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Nostalgia seems stuck in the ‘90s for now. Nostalgia for the 2000s seems nascent at this point. You see some people reminiscing about TV shows (“The O.C.”) or technology (the earliest iPods, Wii, Motorola’s Razr) but not too much yet for fashions (trucker hats, low-rise jeans, Juicy jeans).

To perhaps drive home the point about 1990s nostalgia, Microsoft this week officially killed off the Internet Explorer, its competing browser to Netscape. In a blog post lamenting the decision to shut down IE, Sean Lyndersay, general manager of Microsoft Edge Enterprise, wrote that “Internet Explorer’s reputation today is, deservedly, one of a product from an older era — quirky in behavior and lacking the security of a modern browser.”

Microsoft has moved on from the ‘90s. It’s time for the advertising world to as well.

1 comment about "Enough About '90s Nostalgia".
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  1. Dan Ciccone from STACKED Entertainment, June 20, 2022 at 10:50 a.m.

    Trucker hats and low-rise jeans have been a thing for awhile - like the past few years.


    The audience decides what they are nostalgic for - you can't force it on them.

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