Stranger Things, Miller Lite, and the Power of Nostalgia in the Marketplace

There is something about nostalgia that the human psyche craves. And as consumers living in the most prosperous time in history, we increasingly have the luxury of making purchasing decisions based on how products make us feel.

If the success of the Netflix series Stranger Things has taught us anything, it’s that nostalgia can have a profound impact on consumers in the marketplace. The series, which transports viewers back to the early 1980s, is brilliant on many levels, even if, like myself, you haven’t exactly loved the writing throughout each season. Yet, even in the moments when I found the plot taking unnecessary and even outlandish twists (what was with the teenage gang of superhumans in the second season?), I remained a loyalist, glued to my television screen.

I couldn’t help but marvel at how perfectly the show always managed to give viewers exactly what they so desperately craved even when the plot was severely lacking: a chance to relive our idealized pasts.

Filled with pop culture references, fashion choices, and music that tug at Millennial and Gen-X heartstrings, watching the show can transport us back to our adolescent years. And these feelings of nostalgia are precisely what keep us coming back for more each season. Stranger Things, however, is hardly alone in using nostalgia to appeal to consumers. In fact, over the last several years, nostalgia has all but dominated the marketplace.

- Continue to read this further at Fee.org: https://fee.org/articles/stranger-things-miller-lite-and-the-power-of-nostalgia-in-the-marketplace/

All credit of this article goes to fee.org and its original author Brittany Hunter.