Do you remember the time?

Why advertisements use nostalgia.
When you take a close look at the commercials you may find two approaches:
1. The product is shown during its various evolutionary stages. This emphasizes that the product already exists for a long time and therfore communicates quality and reliability. One example is the new Toyota Corolla commercial:

2. The commercial reminds you of your own past experiences with the product. It shows all the good times you had with it and creates the feeling that you want to continue the "relationship" with the product when the new product is launched. A very good example for this point is the current Play Station 4 commercial, which is called "4 The Players since 1995". This commercial not only awakens people's experiences with the former Play Stations but also emphasizes the product's quality, as described in the first point.

The flaws of nostalgic advertising.
One major problem of nostalgic advertising is that some people may associate bad memories with the brand. By reminding them of these memories, the advertisement may create an aversion for the product which the people actually had already overcome.
Another disadvantage of nostalgia is if it creates an image of the past that most people can't identify with. For example when a commercial shows the 1950s very positively, many people may not be able to identify with that image because they suffered from the post-war era.

When an advertisement should not use nostalgia.
Nostalgic advertisements are not a good idea when the product's target audience is too young to have the memories that the advertisement is supposed to trigger. For example I have read on David's blog that he thinks that the Internet Explorer commercial is not good because he is of the opinion that the things people in the 90s did were ridiculous. The Internet Explorer commercial is therefore excluding everyone who was born later than the mid 90s.

Nostalgic advertising is also pointless for a completely new brand. If the advertisement would remind the audience of their past experiences, they might realize that the past was good enough and they don't actually need a new product/brand.

I always like it when advertisements use nostalgia. It makes me feel like I'm being a part of something bigger. Even though I never owned a Play Station myself, I can identify with the "4 The Players since 1995" commercial because many of my friends had one.