Nostalgia and Forestalgia: Insights, Evaluation, and Implications for Advertising and Product Typology

Abstract

While the focus for many advertising academics and practitioners has been on nostalgia, there is a dearth of research on future-focused appeals. We introduce a new concept, forestalgia, or a consumer’s yearning for an idealized future. To understand the impact of nostalgia and forestalgia, qualitative background interviews were conducted with creative directors and other advertising creatives from numerous nationally recognized advertising agencies. Building on the insights from the interviews and using construal level theory as our foundation, we explore consumer response to hedonic and utilitarian products when appeals employ far-past, near-past, near-future, and far-future framing. Thus, we examine whether nostalgia or forestalgia is better suited for certain products. We find utilitarian products are better received with a temporal distance that is far from the present with hedonic products better suited for appeals framed in the far past and near future. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed, along with future research considerations.