Well, for one thing we were younger. Life was simpler, or so we remember it. We had less choices, but also less notifications. 

Sorry, we are getting nostalgic. Are you? You are not alone. Nostalgia has been a powerful force for the last few years. Millennials seem to be an especially nostalgic generation, after all. Brands have been tapping into this sentiment to create million-dollars hits, like Stranger Things and its epitomes. 

With a pandemic still raging, nostalgia has become even more crucial in our lives: now it’s not just a guilty pleasure. It’s a safe place to run back to, it’s the option to look back when looking forward is too painful or too scary. Once again, brands obliged. 

Nostalgia is now not just an inspiration, but a long-term strategy. Brands are not just paying homage to the old times: sometimes they are going back to the old times. 

This can be very consolatory, but in a way also troubling: are we stuck in a gutter while younger generations are running forward?