When I think nostalgia, I think Christmas commercials. The
vintage look of the film, the emphasis on family and tradition. These
commercials just make me want to pick up a cup of hot chocolate and read by the
fire.
My all time favorite Christmas commercial is the Campbell’s
chicken noodle soup commercial. We see an idyllic snowman shivering in the
cold, glancing longingly at the warm house. The snowman begins to melt,
wobbling towards the house where a hot bowl of soup awaits. As the snowman sits
down at the table we realize that the snowman is really no snowman at all—just
an adorable frozen little boy who has been playing in the snow.
I don’t even like chicken noodle soup all that much but at
that moment all I want is have some soup made by my mom.
Some other memorable commercials include the red and green
M&M's “They do exist!”, the Kay Jeweler’s commercials, the Kisses playing
Jingle Bells, and the Coca Cola polar bears. I’ve included some of these commercials in my post so
you can get your Christmas on (even if it’s not yet November). These
commercials have become as classic to me as the Christmas shows they bookend. Merry Christmas Charlie Brown would just
not be the same without these commercials. It seems that advertisers have not
just created enjoyable commercials—they have made advertising apart of our
celebratory traditions.
So why does nostalgia in advertising actually work? It plays
with our emotions, pulls on our heartstrings, makes us remember and makes us
wish. Nostalgia is looking back at a previous time and remembering that time
better than when it actually happened. Nostalgia puts us in the past where the world
was safe. And safer is better.
Holidays are obviously built around nostalgia, nostalgia
that makes us want to visit family, take part in traditions, eat comfort food,
and enjoy movies we have seem countless times. Nostalgia addresses the deep
need of our soul to be secure. However, by putting us in that safer past,
living in nostalgia can take over a person’s life.
Nostalgia can make us discontent with who and where we are
now. By setting up the past as an unattainable ideal, we will never be happy in
the present. We will always be striving to be who we were—not who we are.
Discontentment is no small thing because discontentment
stems from a lack of faith. It does in fact take great faith to be thankful in
adverse circumstances.
I have struggled with living in the past. I have not
returned “home” to Ecuador since I left a year and a half ago. It is easy to long
for my “perfect” high school years when culture shock and chaos is going on in
my present life. But no matter how good my high school years were, they are not
where I am today. And if I try to live in the past, I will only miss out on the
good years now, at this very moment.
Being discontent is easy; being thankful takes courageous
intentionality. It requires a choice each day to be thankful for the blessings
God has given. The truth is blessings are there, even when we are overwhelmed
with grief, chaos, or confusion. Being thankful says that our heart recognizes
God’s goodness to us in the midst of our problems.
And, in the spirit of
being nostalgia, here’s an old friend to remind us to be thankful for what we
have.
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