Abstract
We propose to intensify theorizing on retromarketing and nostalgic consumption by further developing “hauntology” as a conceptual lens for assessing the retro aesthetic as a commodified affective excess of meaning. This allows us to explore the consumption of marketized retrospective signs not from the perspective of personal experiences or creative meaning-makings but rather as affective encounters that desire in consumption desperately latches onto. In our view, it is thus not an aesthetic satisfaction, nostalgic comfort, or playful emancipations that are offered to us by retro consumption. Following a darker development of hauntology, we find ourselves instead thrust into spectral presences that we can never quite articulate, a haunting within us in an atmosphere of late capitalism where temporal belief in the future has been “cancelled.”
Highlights
To mark the 40th anniversary of its iconic Walkman portable cassette player, Sony recently announced the rerelease of the device with great marketing fanfare
Following Brown’s (2018) and Cervellon and Brown’s (2018b) recent lead, we further develop hauntology as an affective concept (Derrida, 1994; Gibson-Graham, 1995; Hussey, 2001; Lewis, 2008) through which to peer at retro consumption
After overviewing the nostalgia induced retro literature in our field, we turn to outline our interpretation of Derrida’s original hauntological notion, and we turn to how Mark Fisher (2014) developed the concept to address amiss temporalities in late capitalism, and how affective atmospheres of hope for the future can be seen as increasingly problematic
Summary
To mark the 40th anniversary of its iconic Walkman portable cassette player, Sony recently announced the rerelease of the device with great marketing fanfare.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
