The Power of Nostalgia in the Modern Era
A new marketing tool has become mainstream, and it targets people’s yearn for the past. In the chaotic world we live in today, many people desire to go back to the times where life felt peaceful. However, time-machines don't exist, making people turn to events, music, and films that remind them of that past. The addictive nature of nostalgia heavily influences the things that people indulge in. In regards to companies and industries, there lies an opportunity to maximize engagement by satisfying this yearn — entering the era of nostalgia bait.
The Nostalgia Trance
With today’s political climate, people are excessively indulging in entertainment as a means of escape from it all. Society has always valued leisure activities as a means to having fun. However, with today's worsening economy, hustle culture, and world tragedies, engaging in play feels like a luxury.
But it wasn’t always like this. There was a time where people could make ends meet and balance their work and life with ease, all while enjoying what life had to offer and engaging in play. To many, those times are defined as “before 2020”. This phrase essentially expresses how before the year of 2020, which is the year that the COVID-19 pandemic initiated, life was relatively peaceful and easy.
It was the year that the world took a great shift. The virus killed 14.9 million people globally, and forced millions of people to isolate themselves in their homes for weeks. Our modern society had never experienced such a catastrophe such as the pandemic, to which it completely changed the trajectory of the future. Even when COVID cases started to go down but didn’t entirely go away, people were eager to return back to how life was before the pandemic started and went back to living normally — and the rest is history. The world has seemed to get worse each year, and people use escapism to cope with these changes.
As a means of escape, people tend to engage with the world in a way that replicates how people lived in the 2010s. This phenomenon has even started to show when engaging with certain events, films, and music. Many even claim that certain things were better in the old days than they are now. This can be where companies, artists, and the film industry come in. Seeing this demand for products that remind them of the old days can cause them to market their products as an outlet for nostalgia or familiarty.
Nostalgia Bait
Coachella 2026 is one of the most popular annual music festivals and has hit its 25th anniversary. It is known for being the one place where influencers, celebrities, and anyone wanting to share their sense of fashion can all come together and enjoy some of today's hit artists. While the festival has always been enjoyed by its attendees, many claim that Coachella 2016 was one of a kind.
In the latest Coachella festivals, people have been wishing for Coachella to feel the way it did in 2016. It is said that there was a different feeling in the air back then, one of joy and happiness at a time where life wasn’t all that bad. Months before the 2026 festival’s first day commenced, a popular trend ensued where people posted photos and videos showcasing outfits and memories from 2016 Coachella, with captions stating to “bring 2016 Coachella back”. And so, their wishes were granted.
The 2026 Coachella line up was stacked with artists that created the nostalgic classics that people still have on repeat to this day. The eagerness to see Justin Bieber, Swae Lee, DJ Snake, Major Lazer and more made the festival have its fastest ticket sell-out since 2020. On social media, people posted photos and videos of the outfits they went in that were inspired by 2016 to the classic pink-undertoned filter that was popular at that time.
Users on social media said that the festival felt magical, invoking the feeling of what life used to be. These artists were strategically picked to draw in the people who craved the tunes that defined their lives in the 2010s to the festival to experience this sweet nostalgia. However, on the other side of social media people say that they aren’t falling for it.
There are a number of people who have called out Coachella due to the owner, Philip Anschutz, donating to republican parties and candidates that support the Trump administration. They say that the donations go against the progressive values that Coachella has claimed to stand for since its origin, and have called for a boycott of the festival to protest the funding of the Trump administraiton through ticket buyers’ money. Many Coachella fans have pointed to nostalgia as a reason for their ticket purchases. However, critics dismiss it as being a good enough reason to be in attendance, demanding that people not ignore current world issues in pursuit of entertainment.
Utilizing nostalgia for engagement can also be seen when film companies continuously reboot older movies and TV shows. It’s widely agreed upon that movies and shows that were made in the older decades are more enjoyable, even if their modern versions were well made. Everyone has watched back their favorite classics to relive the feeling they once had when first watching them. And being so beloved by audiences, it’s obvious as to why film companies would continue these films and TV shows, but sometimes it tends to be handled poorly.
Nostalgia is one of the reasons as to why people are more eager for these movies and shows to return to their screens. Though, some claim that some don’t necessarily even need a sequel. In fact, many argue that continuing certain movies and shows after its time ruins the ending that was already established, thus ruining their run entirely. Criticism can also stem from the fact that in a lot of these sequels, the plot seems to become lost and uninteresting, disappointing long-time fans.
Take Home Alone, one of the most well-known and loved comedy Christmas movies. It premiered in 1990 and was the top-grossing film of that year, generating $285 million domestically. It has become a staple in households during Christmas among the older generation who grew up on the movie and still watch it to this day. The 90s aesthetic and cozy family lifestyle depicted in the movie has made it a comfort film for many. However, the movie has had a total of 5 sequels throughout the years that have left longtime fans disappointed. Home Alone 1 and 2 seem to be well accepted by fans, starring the actor Macaulay Culkin in the both films. Many claimed that it should have ended at the second sequel, but the franchise continued on releasing Home Alone 3 (1997), Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (2002), and Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (2012) and Home Sweet Home Alone (2021) without Culkin and the original cast.
The sequels were received poorly. People claimed that the last four weren’t necessary, and that the plots were bad and failed to recapture the magic of the original that had the original cast. Even the director of the original Home Alone and Home Alone 2, Chris Colombus, said in an 2025 interview, “Sorry to insult anybody, but they’ve completely f**ked it up. It started with Home Alone 3 and then it just went downhill from there; Home Alone 3 is sort of the best of the bunch of the bad movies.” Overall, longtime fans blame cashgrabs and the urge to make a profit off of the franchise as the reason for its downfall.
The yearn to revisit their past through a film that helped to define it is what drew these viewers to the theaters. No one wants their favorite show or movie they’ve watched for years to end, especially if they were a part of important times of their lives. People cherish them too much, and the film industry sees this and makes sequels that they know nostalgic lovers will pay to see. Some lived up to their originals, while others seemed to have failed to deliver.
The music industry also utilizes nostalgia to its benefit. While modern artists today all have their own uniqueness and originality, they are notorious for giving homage to artists from older decades to gain support for their music from their fans. This can be by recreating famous music videos from loved older artists, wearing outfits on stage inspired by them, or even sampling older songs in their music.
Fans of these older artists who grew up to their music often crave for the musical sound that once dominated that era of their life. To have modern artists advertising that sound and being a “throwback” artist draws them to their music. The record labels that these modern artists are under also play a role, purposely molding some of their artists into being similar to another older acclaimed artist. They see this as the formula for gaining popularity and making hits, to which they are correct. People tend to gravitate towards songs that sound familiar.
While not an example of “nostalgia baiting” per se, the British singer-songwriter and producer Pink Pantheress is a great example of how nostalgia can draw people to a product and explains the phenomenon well. She is known for utilizing older songs as samples in her music, and her production talent and artistry is adored by the pop community. Her fans love her sampling, and say that it makes her music feel “nostalgic” to them, even though the artist herself says she doesn't feel that when listening to her songs. In an interview, she described her genre as “new nostalgia”, expressing that she puts her own unique twist to already existing sounds from the 90s and 2000s era of iconic UK garage, DnB, and pop music.
On the contrary, critics have claimed that her heavy use of sampling is “lazy” and “impersenation”, and tend to want to gatekeep the older songs she uses from being used as samples. However, her own originality and unique sound is paving her own way in the music industry. Pantheress has stated how people hear all of the music they used to listen to all at once in her music, which can create that sense of nostalgia that is felt. But ultimately, her sound comes naturally to her due to growing up on UK Garage music.
All in all, nostalgia is now a tool for engagement in the modern world. Coping through nostalgia is unavoidable, as there will always be a special place in our hearts for the past and can bring us joy indulging in it. However it can also lead people to become close minded regarding the present and neglect it, or times where companies will capitalize off of it and spoil a loved movie or series’ run. Engaging in nostalgia with balance for the present as well helps so that we don't become blinded by it, and allows us to see the present for what it is.
