Targeting autistic people

[japancool]

I would like to run an advertising campaign specifically targeting autistic people. A very large proportion of my customers are autistic, and what I sell appeals to people on the spectrum who like collecting, and building things.

I'm concerned though that this is a minefield. I don't want to inadvertently offend anyone, and I'm unsure how to sound neutral without doing this. My idea is to emphasise the aspects of the products that appeal, without using the word "autistic". Does anyone have any tips or experience in advertising in this area?

For the record, my brother, sister and niece are all autistic, and I'm almost certainly on the spectrum somewhere.

 

[Deleted member 335660]

usses etc. Using wooden panels and blocks, and nuts. We called it Nutty and even had a Nutty Town. Our main target was schools and nurses.

As a result of an enquiry we were asked to demonstrate it at a school for mentally retarded children and it was a big success.

I would suggest you get in touch with an autistic society and get advice, they may even help you with promotion.

One of our friends has an autistic chId and they don’t seem to mind talking about it, but always best to check this out.

 

[BustersDogs]

I strongly recommend that you ask autistic people. Focus groups, surveys, your own family? I don't know much about marketing products, so can't help with that directly.

But always better to just speak to autistic people, not about them.

From my point of view of adverts, too much noise, too long, too much waffle, flashing lights, unnecessary colours all make me skip past adds. I like text to read along with voices.

The words sensory, fidgit, stim, etc all help me find products when I'm looking for something to help me focus, but I'm not exactly sure what you sell, so no idea if that's a help or not.

 

[marydee]

I'm an advertiser and my son is autistic. I've also worked with a charity that supported non-NT people.

I'd say, be open and direct and avoid puns or clever-clever wordplay. There's a survey (I'm not allowed to link) that says that misleading or untrue advertising falls especially flat on autistics.

The general rule with advertising anything is if the product speaks for itself then you can be creative with the graphics, and vice versa, and it's a good one for this, I think.

Be open and explain the benefits of your product.

Good luck!

 

[japancool]

It's funny how things work out. One of our customers has just contacted us about using our products in a mental health video and wants to promote them. His wife works for a mental health charity as well.

While it's not quite autism, there's a lot of related material, so I'm looking to do a collaboration with him.

 

[Ozzy]

Talking as a HFA myself and knowing your products;

Use Instagram and create an advert campaign as you would normally, nothing bespoke or unique about it for those with ASC. Then target the campaign at #'tags related to autism.
From my personal viewpoint, you've identified a market interested in your product and it makes sense to position your product in front of that market. Not really any different from targeting adverts for tampons at women, doesn't mean that would be being sexist.

 

[ethical PR]

usses etc. Using wooden panels and blocks, and nuts. We called it Nutty and even had a Nutty Town. Our main target was schools and nurses.

As a result of an enquiry we were asked to demonstrate it at a school for mentally retarded children and it was a big success.

I would suggest you get in touch with an autistic society and get advice, they may even help you with promotion.

One of our friends has an autistic chId and they don’t seem to mind talking about it, but always best to check this out.

It's been years since we called anyone the insulting term 'mentally retarded'

 

[UKSBD]

You've just got to get the word Spectrum in there, especially with the products you sell.

 

[Ian J]

we were asked to demonstrate it at a school for mentally retarded children

Wow. You must live in the dark ages

 

[NathanJames]

Wow. You must live in the dark ages

I second this. In the UK, in most companies, the use of the word 'retard' constitutes gross misconduct and is a sackable offence. Heavily discriminatory.

My advice to the OP is to play around with specific words within 'Google Trends' to help you find out which words are the most relevant and actually carry some monthly search volume behind them.

 

[simon field]

As these things go, it won’t be too many years before we look back on the word ‘autistic’ and find it offensive!

 

[Ozzy]

As these things go, it won’t be too many years before we look back on the word ‘autistic’ and find it offensive!

Quite true. I was informed I have "Apsergers" which is now frowned upon as a term and I'm informed I should refer to myself as "High Functioning", personally I'm just a bit too weird to be normal ?.

Yes I know the history behind Aspergers and why it isn't used any more, before I get shouted at.

 

[Paul FilmMaker]

To answer OP's question, we've done this, load of people have and the results are extremely successful. Our experience is we created and filmed a TA vid for a customer deliberately and specifically targeting high functioning people.

This is how we did it and you can do it.

Create a video chain celebrating the difference. Put them all over social with the usual social 'feed' system (e.g. Tiktok pushing viewers to YT). Show who you are if you are high functioning. Don't sell your product in these vids.

High functioning people and their communities flock to these vids.

Within the vid chain, create a couple of vids showing who you are. Your product. These should be couched as 'explainers' and will be your very subtle sales pitch. So you're not selling, rather you're just showing. Explaining you're also high functioning etc...

In case you don't believe me, 'Autism is my superpower' is absolutely massive, earns lots of infs and businesses a ton of money. Example of a single 'Autism is my superpower' vid with 1 million+ views on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgV26ol51UM