Visiting the Museum of Brands in London

Occasionally I am convinced that time travel means that suddenly things that have never previously existed in our timeline pop up, and have apparently been here forever. That is how I feel about the Museum of Brands in London, which despite clearly being very much in my wheelhouse, I had genuinely never heard of until an old friend from school mentioned on Facebook that they had visited it. Of course, I instantly had to make plans to go, and so went last week while the Guardian was on strike.

The exhibition is laid out as a timeline of consumer culture, starting with the Victorian era and going right to the present day, and wandering through it is an incredible reminder that every single aspect of design, typography and function of whatever it is you are making and building this week is going to end up looking dated to fuck and pinnable to a specific era.

As someone of a certain age, it is also fascinating to see that now the 90s and the first decade of the 2000s have a really clear aesthetic that looks incredibly old-fashioned now, despite it being a big chunk of my adult life.

Obviously the nostalgia for me was strong, even for things that slightly pre-date my time that I only know through repeat showings or reprints. I particularly enjoyed displays that featured Dan Dare and The Man from UNCLE.

Of course there was plenty of Doctor Who stuff from the 1960s and 1970s too, although I was surprised that the 2005-2010 saturation of Doctor Who products didn’t appear to get a look in. I mean, this was an era of the show when the BBC had David Tennant’s Doctor as the Christmas idents.

And I will never not instantly burst into tears the second I spot the – frankly not entirely accurate – Tardis toy that I used to have as a child.

If I had one slight criticism of the museum, it would be – paradoxically perhaps – that there is a little too much on display, and so it becomes a bit overwhelming.

Nevertheless, who can argue with going to a museum where, for £10 admission as an adult, you basically get to stand in front of every electronic toy you ever wanted from the Argos catalogue pages in the late seventies and early eighties?