The Nostalgia Market

When I think of the word ritual, I immediately think of those who bordered my childhood. And I automatically get nostalgic. As if rituals were something magical from the past…

The smell of the Christmas tree thawing in the living room, the song my grandmother blew in my ear to put me to sleep, the smell of fondue broth Chinese on a winter Saturday after skiing…

We also understood that nostalgia for rituals was a very powerful emotion… to make us spend money! Just look at the movies, TV shows, toys that come back to life after a few decades of rest. The Trolls, Popples, Strawberry Shortcake, Fillies and Ninja Turtles offer new toys to seduce both children and their parents, intoxicated with the nostalgia of their childhood. What about the new version of Passe-Partout, which should see the light of day next year!

An American study^{1 shows that nostalgia is a powerful marketing strategy in times of uncertainty! Because people want to return to comforting, less stormy or confrontational times. Is the popularity of nostalgia linked to climate instability?current social and political life, under the yoke of performance? Are we so disillusioned with the future that the only solution is to cuddle up in the past?}

Forget to better remember

In the last few years, I realized that some of my childhood rituals had disappeared. They no longer existed. They had not followed me into adulthood. Where did the transmission stop? When did I stop reproducing them? Would I have lost my child's heart? Shouldn't I want to pass on the traditions to my children? Honestly, I just believe that the wave of daily life has swept away many habits in its path…

Quietly, I am learning to rebuild these rituals. Very simple gestures, repeated every year, every season. They do not require financial means or trifles. They don't require an organization that occupies my mental load. I found what comforts me, and it can't be bought.

I realize that I am building rituals with my little family that are unique to our family. They belong neither to my spouse's family nor to mine. They are an amalgamation of our experiences and what makes us happy today. Our children will one day be able to look back on those times with nostalgia and comfort.

All in all, I'm glad I had a time when family traditions got lost. To keep only those that have real meaning, those that we want to perpetuate as a family. Without obligation.

¹RUTHERFORD,Jana and Eric H. Shaw. “What Was Old Is New Again: The History of Nostalgia as a Buying Motive in Consumption Behavior”. Proceedings of the 15^{th Conference for Historical Analysis and Research in Marketing, Leighann C. Neilson (editor), Association for Historical Research in Marketing, May 2011, p. 157-166.}

Written by Mariève Paradis

This editorial appears in Rituels, the Fall/Winter 2017 issue of Planète F