Ante la Nostalgia, Comida para Animarse...

Hoy leia en el Financial Times que para combatir su ánimo decaido por la crisis económica, los británicos están volviendo a comprar comidas y marcas que les traigan buenas memorias --muchas veces de la infancia.

"Britons rediscover a taste for nostalgia" Samantha Pearson
March 6 2009

Remember the good old days before subprime mortgages, collateralised debt obligations and quantitative easing?

Shoppers do, according to retailers and consumer groups, who say there is mounting evidence of people returning to old-fashioned brands and comfort food in an attempt to recall happier, less fretful times.

Sales of Bisto gravy, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, rose 20 per cent in the 12 weeks to January at Asda, which has reported a surge in the “nostalgic brands” that people have known since childhood.

Birds Eye custard sales increased by an even higher 26 per cent, while the frozen-food company’s fish fingers were up 18 per cent.

Jon Owen, Asda’s marketing director, said: “We’re seeing customers retrenching to behaviours that they had or their parents had a long time ago.”

The British Retail Consortium agrees. It said: “At a time when every penny counts for most customers, many welcome the reassurance of the familiar.”

Other product lines have been brought back to life at the request of wistful shoppers.

Cadbury revived the Wispa chocolate bar after an online petition drew more than 40,000 signatures, and Birds Eye started selling Arctic Roll desserts after ditching them a decade ago.

It seems the nation could not live without Woolworths’ pick ‘n’ mix confectionery for long.

While the last bag of sweets from the collapsed retailer sold for more than £14,500 at auction last month, Shop Direct Group, the brand’s new owners, announced it would soon be back online as Click ‘n’ Mix.

The jam sandwich has also returned. Marks & Spencer started selling the British classic for 75p last week, claiming that “for those who haven’t eaten one for years, one bite takes you straight back to your childhood”.

Packaging and adverts are tapping into the love for all things familiar too with retro logos and brands such as Guinness re-broadcasting 1950s commercials.

There is more appetite for old-fashioned toys, too. Lego defied a generation of technological advances last week by announcing a 51 per cent increase in UK sales in 2008.

Bob Cotton, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, said he had noticed similar trends in the leisure industry, with more holidaymakers staying in the UK rather than going abroad, and not just for financial reasons.

“When people feel uncertain or insecure they revert to secure childhood memories,” he said.