Recycling the Past

We all know that next to smell, a tune is the next trigger which can hurl you back in time. Every generation, as it ages, has a yearning to turn back the clock and return to simpler times. And marketers have understood this yearning and used it to their advantage.

Of late Bollywood has been awash with remakes and re-mixes. The global success of Mughal-e-Azam amplifies the point that the faster we hurtle into the heart of this new millennium, the more desperate is the impulse of a generation to look backwards towards the halcyon days of the last century.

Nostalgia is a stress reliever. It helps many to cope with the growing anxiety about ageing, death and relentless change. Recently Indians have been overwhelmed by the breathtaking onrush of the information age, and 200 plus 24/7 TV channels. While a sizeable section of India which is young celebrates the new dawn of the digital age and reaps its benefits, there are many who just cannot cope with this digital and media culture that has taken over their life.

An expert who works for one of the world’s largest marketing companies recently made this statement: ‘These days we are wrapping up our modern conveniences with old-style packaging hoping that the warm memories of the past will make the oldies, who have the bucks, reach for their wallets and make a purchase.’ Now that completely explains why McDonald’s is marketing its burgers using the look alikes of Raj Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar and Rajesh Khanna to seduce the older age group into consuming fast food.

In the late nineties, Coca-Cola in the US recreated a plastic version of its famous contour bottle of the post-war era, and sales doubled. Even FM radio today has extensive time bands where they play golden oldies, and certain TV channels only show old films. The collector’s item of Mughal-e-Azam has sold like hot cakes not only in India but also in Pakistan, and the new generations of film makers are today scrambling about in the archival dustbin of Bollywood to find their next subject. By casting the actors of today in the subjects of yesterday, they increase their market base. The recent success of Parineeta proves this point.

Marketing golden memories has been a lucrative business the world over. In the US, CDs of old songs, books of old photographs, or essays reminiscing about childhood are repackaged and released from time to time. They also have ‘‘oldies’’ concerts, old-fashioned railroad-style boxed lunches and the like.

In Japan, the 38-56 age group accounts for about 30 million people, or one quarter of the total population. World over this group is rejecting a pop culture that seems to care only about teenagers, and marketing experts have taken note of the enormous business opportunities thereby presented. Going with the flow and responding to consumers’ nostalgic sentiments, marketeers have been putting out wave after wave of products that were popular when this group was young. India is beginning to wake up to this fact.

In spite of the robust economy and the sudden affluence that may have descended into our backyard in the last couple of years, the truth is that it will take a while for Indians to adjust. Because of the dramatic changes which have occurred in our lives, Indians long for simple conversations between friends, relatives and family members and at times for rustic rural life, which is unrefined, without brands and sans the breakneck speed that has overtaken our lives today. Indians are quite sensitive to their tradition and the memories of the past weigh them down. Nostalgia marketing cashes in on this.