Paper Details

Name: Kapil Chowdhury
Country: India

Year: 2026
Volume: Volume-13, Issue-2, Year-2026 ( july- dec)
Page Number: 60-68
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22689639

Vintage typography, mascot throwbacks, reminiscent jingles, retro-style packaging — these are some of the ways Indian advertisers have leaned into the past throughout the 20th century and into today. This paper qualitatively explores how and why retro visual trends are repeatedly effective at invoking nostalgia in Indian audiences. Drawing upon an interpretive qualitative case-study approach, anchored by thematic review of publicly available campaign materials, this paper discusses three case studies of Indian brands using nostalgia: Campa Cola’s 2023–2025 reincarnation by Reliance Consumer Products, Fevicol’s decades-spanning print advertising consistency, and Parle-G’s long-retained — and briefly updated — packaging. Findings identify four primary visual-nostalgic devices: vintage packaging/logos/mascots, vintage typography/fonts and colour schemes, vintage-styled audio/jingles, and continued narrative references or ad-character reappearance over many years of campaigns. Conclusions discuss retro visual trends’ continued success in Indian markets as signalling repetition and trust in a visual-first society where advertisements are often consumed by multiple generations of families together, and how disruption to visual legacy brand assets can cause rapid and unexpected consumer backlash — specifically referencing backlash to Parle-G’s 20 brief logo change.

Keywords: nostalgia marketing, retro design, Indian advertising, visual semiotics, retro aesthetics, packaging heritage, qualitative research