Retro from the get-go: reactionary reflections on marketing's yestermania

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to raise the issue of contemporary retromania with marketing historians.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a reflective essay combining personal experiences with empirical exemplars.

Findings

It is found that retromarketing is a subject requiring scholarly scrutiny. The commodification of the past is increasingly prevalent and marketing historians are ideally placed to lead the discussion.

Research limitations/implications

As yestermania is unlikely to evaporate anytime soon, it provides rich, socially and managerially relevant pickings for marketing historians.

Originality/value

Aside from the scurrilous suggestion that historians should get out of the dusty archives, it argues that originality is overrated.

Citation

Brown, S. (2013), "Retro from the get-go: reactionary reflections on marketing's yestermania", Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 521-536. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHRM-05-2013-0027