50 Pics And Memes About The ’90s You Have To Be Old Enough To Understand
Interview With ExpertWe here at Bored Panda love different nostalgic eras. And we cover a wide variety of decades: the '70s, the '80s, the '90s, and even the 2000s. It's nice to delve into the past sometimes, and not always for nostalgia reasons. The past is what forms us; after all, we exist in the context of all that came before us, right?
Today we're featuring the Facebook page "The 90's Guyz," a popular account that serves its fans nostalgic memories daily. Do you miss the candy-colored Mac computers and writing with a sharpie on a CD? Then this list is probably for you!
We also got in touch with Donna Moritz, visual content strategist and founder of Socially Sorted and Canva verified expert. We chatted with Donna about the power of nostalgia in creating visual content, some cool '90s commercials, and how even Boomers can love the '90s.
More info: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Donna Moritz: Instagram | X | YouTube
This post may include affiliate links.
"Nostalgia is a hugely powerful marketing tool when it comes to consumer behavior," visual content strategist Donna Moritz tells us. "As a proud Gen-Xer, I can't begin to explain the number of times I have related to a product, brand, service or ad based on nostalgic memories or past experiences."
"And as a marketer and visual content strategist, I see time and time again how impactful nostalgia can be." Donna names several reasons why it is so. First, nostalgic marketing creates an emotional connection.
"Any product or service that evokes nostalgic memories will connect to emotions of joy, comfort and even security, and this can enhance brand loyalty as we associate a brand or product with a feeling or memory from our past," Donna says. "Particularly if that memory was part of our childhood or marks a significant event."
Secondly, we might be more likely to perceive a product as more valuable if it evokes a nostalgic response. "Especially if it reminds us of happier times and any memories of emotional satisfaction," Donna adds.
She explains that the third reason why nostalgia marketing is so efficient is that we might see it as less risky. "Nostalgia can guide our decision making as we perceive less 'risk' in the familiarity of something we have experienced before," she says. "Tying nostalgic themes through your product and services can help your customers to be more comfortable choosing to buy."
As I've seen kids struggle with a mail box I fully expect them to believe you.
"Content creation lends itself so well to marketing with nostalgia, as we can reference trends, pop culture and entire generational themes in our content," Donna points out. She gives the trends of Y2K, kids biking around and having adventures in TV shows and movies, and even remakes of Gen Xers' favorite shows as examples.
"It does wonders for user engagement as who doesn't want to talk about their favorite childhood cartoon, toy, movie or music obsession? As such, nostalgia is a powerful storytelling tool, making our content more memorable when we make it more relatable."
However, nostalgia can also tap into more personal and individual memories. "Nostalgia lends itself to personalization in marketing when targeting certain demographics – by understanding the age, interests and types of content that will evoke strong feelings of nostalgia," Donna explains.
We asked Donna which nostalgia marketing campaigns she liked the best in the past year. "One that gave me goosebumps was Canva's Holiday Story Ad," Donna shares. "It gives such a 'Toy Story-esque' nostalgic feeling from the movies of the '90s. And by the end of the ad, you're literally rooting for the character in the story to have the happy ending that ultimately comes."
"It's all of your childhood and the joy of characters and books and creativity rolled into 1.42 minutes," she goes on about the Canva Holiday Story Ad. "Created to showcase the element library in Canva and what you can create with it, the ad itself is packed with nostalgia and hits all the feels in the right place. And as a Canva Creator of templates for the Canva library, it was nostalgia on steroids for this designer!"
Let me tell you the tale of the glass salad bowl in the form of..salad leafs. Every adult (35-40yrs) household had them when I was a kid.... and when I became an adult I realized they just turn up in random 35 years old households. Noone ever bought them. Last month we went to a thrift store and there it was... Since I have no parents/grandparents I was compelled to buy it...So now, at 37 I too have a salad formed glass salad bowl.
Donna also mentions this gaming ad from Nintendo as a memorable '90s nostalgia campaign. "[It ]evokes memories of siblings and childhood and playing Nintendo in the '80s and '90s. And what's more '90s than a Wayne's World Uber Eats ad? Personally, as a teen video store employee, I loved the '90s nostalgia of Airbnb's chance to stay at the last remaining Blockbuster video store. Experiential marketing [and] nostalgia is a perfect duo."
My 22 year old son and I will still make one in the Living Room and watch some of our favorite movies while sitting in our "castle" fort!
I dunno. My mom flipped out when I got home from the store for her because I thought there was enough money left over to buy myself a chocolate bar. That was a scary day for me, realizing one chocolate bar could send us to the poor house. She often said NO! a lot and much of our outings were either free or very cheap, and she fed us porridge and soup a lot.
Donna says that nostalgia marketing doesn't discriminate. People of all ages may enjoy these kinds of ads, even if they weren't born in that particular decade. "While Gen Xers and Millennials are particularly attracted to '90s nostalgia, it's not an exclusive club," she says.
Don't know the intended purpose, but they were great tactile resources for people with sensory needs- my brothers had them on their wheelchair trays.
The Wendy's near me still has this sunroom, but they got rid of the tables with the vintage newspaper ads, and it's kind of sad because now you can drive by and see that there's never anyone in the dining room.
"The '90s appeal to everyone from Baby Boomers to Gen Z," Donna points out. "We have access to so much content now that TV re-runs, movie remakes and social media bring access to all the best of the '90s – no matter your age or demographic." Donna says that people can pretty easily recreate the aesthetics of the '90s.
I can smell this, I can hear this, I can feel this... and I'm not sure I like it
I know I don’t like it. Hated gym class. I was a nerdy book loving kid
Load More Replies...I was a custodian, now retired, and am having flashbacks of attempting sanitation from 2020 on.
Ours was this tiny broom-cupboard type room with a loft. Everyone wanted to get the job of tidying it because you could spend half a day there not doing much.
You knew it would be a good day when they opened that room and said "have fun".
"Revivals of generational hits like Friends or Y2K colors and design can be started with a simple TikTok trend or streaming show. And yet another boy band goes on tour and their music is hitting the charts. I'm sure we will see a whole lot more of it in years to come, as different eras come back into our current pop culture. Rad!", Donna concludes like a true Gen Xer.
How has the guy with the hat in the upper left corner not aged at all???
We sold these when I worked at Spencer Gifts back in the 90's. They only held about 6 ounces and they were made out of this rubberized plastic that made everything taste funny.
I don't know about that. I thought the watermelon flavor of Bubblicious was the bomb!
We could buy these at my grade school in the '70s for a quarter. The problem I had was getting the right cheese to cracker ratio. I'd usually put very little on the first two crackers, because I was afraid of running out of cheese. So the last two crackers would be absolutely smothered.
I wanted that so much, but my grandma had the good sense to buy me one of those big, boxy tape recorders. I LOVED that thing! I recorded every episode of the A-Team, and would play it for the guys at school, the next morning. I actually found one of those old cassettes a while ago.
I'm sure if you were born or live in the USA, it was a riot of nostalgia. For anyone else, 80% of it means not a thing.
I was born in late 1970s Brazil. I don't know about most of these. Oh well
Load More Replies...I'm old enough to remember the last time this list was on BP.
These lists seems to be only for US-americans, I'm sure I've seen lists like this for other parts of the world it would be nice to see a bit of that on BP.
I'm American, but I agree: it would be neat to see what kids of other countries grew up playing with. Where did their imagination take them?
Load More Replies...I grew up in the 70s. A lot of these computer games and tv shows/cartoons mean nothing to me. But I enjoy seeing what 90s kids had.
Always interesting to get a glimpse into what live was like in other countries. Top.
We had all these here in Canada too. Don't forget about super soakers too.
I'm sure if you were born or live in the USA, it was a riot of nostalgia. For anyone else, 80% of it means not a thing.
I was born in late 1970s Brazil. I don't know about most of these. Oh well
Load More Replies...I'm old enough to remember the last time this list was on BP.
These lists seems to be only for US-americans, I'm sure I've seen lists like this for other parts of the world it would be nice to see a bit of that on BP.
I'm American, but I agree: it would be neat to see what kids of other countries grew up playing with. Where did their imagination take them?
Load More Replies...I grew up in the 70s. A lot of these computer games and tv shows/cartoons mean nothing to me. But I enjoy seeing what 90s kids had.
Always interesting to get a glimpse into what live was like in other countries. Top.
We had all these here in Canada too. Don't forget about super soakers too.