MARKETING AND AUTISM

Read articles on appealing to, and employing, neurodivergent individuals and their communities

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Autistic consumers build their lives around specific products and experience genuine distress when they're reformulated or discontinued. Learn why product consistency creates fierce brand loyalty.

5 min read

Samefood Marketing: The Neurodivergent Demand for Exact Product Replication

An autistic adult finds the perfect black t-shirt. The fabric weight is exactly right. The neck opening doesn't trigger sensory issues. The fit is consistent across sizes. They buy twelve of them.

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Executive function challenges cause autistic shoppers to abandon carts at checkout. Learn why multi-step processes, shipping options, and account creation kill conversions.

4 min read

Executive Function and Cart Abandonment

An autistic customer has spent forty minutes researching your product. They've read specifications, compared options, checked reviews, and finally...

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Scent marketing drives away autistic customers with sensory sensitivities and chemical reactions. Learn why fragrance-free retail creates competitive advantage and customer loyalty.

4 min read

Olfactory Marketing Disasters: When Scent Drives Away Autistic Customers

Walk into an Abercrombie & Fitch. Before you see a single product, the smell hits you—aggressive cologne pumped through the ventilation system at...

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Fluorescent lighting drives autistic customers out of retail spaces. Discover how LED alternatives, dimming options, and natural light design increase customer retention and sales.

5 min read

Lighting Design in Retail for Autism: Beyond Fluorescent Hell

An autistic customer walks into your store with money to spend and genuine interest in your products. Within ninety seconds, the fluorescent lights...

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Misophonia transforms everyday sounds into rage triggers for many autistic consumers. Learn why ASMR-style marketing backfires and how to avoid sound-based brand rejection.

6 min read

Misophonia in Marketing: When ASMR Is a Weapon, Not a Reward

The camera zooms in on perfectly manicured nails tapping a glass bottle. Tap. Tap. Tap. A whispered voice describes the product's features. Rustle of...

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Sound logos and audio branding can trigger sensory overload in autistic consumers. Learn why acoustic branding needs volume control, frequency consideration, and silent alternatives.

6 min read

Acoustic Branding for Autism: When Sound Logos Cause Shutdowns

You open Netflix. Ta-dum. You boot up your Xbox. Startup chime. You visit a website. Autoplay video with sudden music. You receive a notification....

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 Autistic pet owners represent premium customers whose special interest intensity drives deep product research and sustained spending. Learn how to market to this passionate, loyal demographic.

5 min read

Pet Product Marketing to Autistic Animal Lovers

An autistic person develops a special interest in marine biology at age seven. By age twelve, they can identify 200 species of fish by sight, explain...

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Autistic consumers prioritize predictability over perks in banking. Learn why transparent fees, overdraft protection, and routine-friendly features matter more than rewards points.

4 min read

Banking and Financial Services for Autistic Consumers

Most banks sell you the same dream: rewards points, cash back, travel perks, exclusive access. They're selling excitement, aspiration, variable...

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Face-blind consumers can't recognize celebrity endorsers or brand spokespeople. Learn why prosopagnosia demands logo-first brand recognition strategies that don't rely on faces.

4 min read

Prosopagnosia in Brand Recognition: Marketing to Face-Blind Autistic Consumers

Your brand ambassador just posted to their 2 million followers. The engagement is strong. The comments are glowing. And a significant portion of your...

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Autistic users process websites differently due to weak central coherence. Learn how to create navigation that works for detail-focused minds, not just big-picture thinkers.

2 min read

Central Coherence and Website Navigation: Why Autistic Users See Details, Not Big Picture

Here's something most web designers miss: when an autistic person lands on your homepage, they're not seeing what you think they're seeing.

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Discover why autistic consumers resist product upgrades and how brands can capture this market by marketing continuity, maintaining legacy products, and reducing transition costs.

3 min read

Transition Resistance: Why Autistic Consumers Won't Upgrade Even When It Makes Sense

Your smartphone is three generations old. The camera is objectively worse. The battery dies by noon. Apps crash regularly.

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Learn why autistic consumers' pattern recognition abilities expose performative disability marketing and how brands can build genuine accommodation that creates loyalty instead of backlash.

4 min read

Why Autistic Consumers See Through Performative Inclusivity

Your brand posted a puzzle piece graphic for Autism Awareness Month with the caption "We celebrate neurodiversity."

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Learn how autistic consumer shutdown and recovery cycles create unique purchasing patterns that smart brands can anticipate and serve more effectively.

4 min read

Marketing During Overwhelm and Recovery Periods

Your marketing calendar assumes consistent purchasing capacity throughout the year.

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Discover how understanding stimming behavior can help brands create products and experiences that serve the growing neurodivergent consumer market more effectively.

3 min read

Stimming as Product Interaction: How Autistic Consumers Engage with Tactile Brands

There's a massive consumer segment that evaluates your products on criteria you're not even measuring.

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Traditional sensory marketing overwhelms neurodivergent customers. Discover how autism-friendly retail design creates inclusive experiences that benefit everyone while expanding your customer base.

4 min read

Sensory Marketing and Autism-Friendly Retail Experiences

Walk into most retail environments and you're immediately assaulted: fluorescent lights blazing overhead, music pulsing through speakers, competing...

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Neurodivergent users abandon carts when websites overwhelm. Discover 8 interface design principles that reduce cognitive load and increase conversions for all customers.

3 min read

How to Make Ecommerce Neurodivergent-Friendly: From Interface to Checkout

Your e-commerce site has a seventy percent cart abandonment rate. Your team blames pricing, shipping costs, or competition.

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Gen Z neurodivergent shoppers have spending power and loyalty—if your store doesn't overwhelm them. Learn how forward-thinking retailers are redesigning in-store experiences.

3 min read

Creating Neurodivergent-Affirming In-Store Experiences for Young Consumers

The teenager stands frozen in your store entrance, visibly calculating whether shopping here is worth the sensory cost. They scan for escape routes,...

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Autism-friendly tourism generates billions in revenue for brands that understand accommodation. Discover what travel and leisure leaders are doing right—and what it means for your industry.

4 min read

The Growth of Autism-Friendly Travel and Leisure: What Brands Can Learn

The theme park announced "sensory-friendly hours" and expected modest attendance. They prepared for a few hundred guests who needed accommodation.

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Discover how brands can authentically represent autistic individuals in advertising—moving beyond stereotypes to build genuine trust with the autism community and allies

5 min read

Authentic Representation of Autistic Individuals in Advertising

Let's talk about the advertising industry's autism problem.

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