Master's Degree Programme in Languages, Economics and Institutions of Asia and North Africa LM40-15 Final Thesis Marketing and Advertising Terrorist Propaganda: An Analysis of Modern Means and Methods used by Islamic Terrorist Organizations Supervisor Ch. Prof. Barbara De Poli Assistant supervisor Ch. Prof. Marco Salati Candidate Mattia Gentile Matriculation Number: 860823 Academic Year 2016 / 2017 Table of Contents 1 ............................................................................................................................................ المقدمة Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 4 Section 1: The Genesis of Salafi-Jihādi Terrorist Groups ......................................................... 7 1.1 The path towards radical Islām: Salafism, Jihād and the Khilāfah ................................................ 7 1.2 A new kind of evil: from al-Qāʿida to Da'ish ............................................................................... 12 1.3 Al-Shabāb in Somalia .................................................................................................................. 19 1.4 Terror.net 2.0 ............................................................................................................................. 22 Section 2: Towards the brand of terror .................................................................................... 27 2.1 Recruitment ................................................................................................................................ 27 2.1.1 The potential candidate ....................................................................................................... 29 2.1.2 Tailored recruitment ........................................................................................................... 31 2.2 Branding ..................................................................................................................................... 35 2.2.1 Branding Symbols ................................................................................................................ 38 2.2.2 Becoming the Brand of Terror ............................................................................................. 41 2.3 Propaganda: advertising for recruitment? ................................................................................. 44 2.3.1 Themes ................................................................................................................................ 47 Section 3: Marketing................................................................................................................. 49 3.1 Social Media: Twitter and Facebook ........................................................................................... 52 3.2 Print media: Inspiring Dābiq ....................................................................................................... 56 3.2.1 Analysys of the issues .......................................................................................................... 59 3.3 Videos ......................................................................................................................................... 73 3.3.1 A Nightmare on Sesame Street ............................................................................................ 74 3.3.2 The Imitation Game: Al-Shabāb’s Call to Hijrah ................................................................... 78 3.3.3 Recruiting for the Caliphate: Reservoir mujāhidīn ............................................................... 81 3.3.4 The blood path from al-Qāʿida to ISIS .................................................................................. 85 3.4 Opening Pandora’s Box: Other Media ........................................................................................ 87 3.5 Western Testimonials ................................................................................................................. 90 Section 4: Counter-measures .................................................................................................. 98 4.1 The “dos and don’ts” .................................................................................................................. 98 4.2 Cyberhacking ............................................................................................................................ 103 4.3 Playing Sherlock........................................................................................................................ 105 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 108 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 110 Table of Figures Figure 1 Al-Qāʿida .................................................................................................................... 38 Figure 2 Islāmic State .............................................................................................................. 38 Figure 3 Al-Shabāb .................................................................................................................. 38 Figure 4 Al-Ḥayāt ..................................................................................................................... 39 Figure 5 Al-Katāi’b .................................................................................................................... 39 Figure 6 Al-Hayat (left) al-Kataib (right) logo entrance ............................................................ 40 Figure 7 Al-Jazeera. Source: aljazeera.com .......................................................................... 40 Figure 8 The Islāmic State Brand Exposure ............................................................................ 42 Figure 9 "I Want You" by James Montgomery Flagg .............................................................. 45 Figure 10 Events by Narrative, Source: Winter ....................................................................... 48 Figure 11 Twitter Teaser Posters: (from left) ISIS and Star Wars .......................................... 54 Figure 12 Dabiq Cover, Issue 1 ............................................................................................... 59 Figure 13 Front Covers: (from left) Issue 2, Issue 3, Issue 4 .................................................. 60 Figure 14 Dabiq Issue 1 ........................................................................................................... 63 Figure 15 Double-Spread Sample; Source: lexylovesred.weebly.com ................................... 64 Figure 16 Dabiq Issue 2 and Issue 4 ....................................................................................... 65 Figure 17 Dabiq Issue 1 and Issue 3 ....................................................................................... 65 Figure 18 Wisdom:(starting from top) Dabiq Issue 3 and Issue 4, Inspire Issue 13 .............. 69 Figure 19 Issue 4: A Window into the Islamic State ................................................................ 70 Figure 20 Hear the World - Issue 1 (left) In the Words of the Enemy - Issue 3 (right) ........... 71 Figure 21 High Definition logos ................................................................................................ 80 Figure 22 Similarities between "And Be Harsh Upon Them" (left), "Flames of War" (right), and “The Hunger Games” (bottom) ......................................................................................... 80 Figure 23 Abu Safiyya with border sign ................................................................................... 82 Figure 24 Abu Osama .............................................................................................................. 83 Figure 25 Burning Passports ................................................................................................... 84 Figure 26 Cantlie's change ...................................................................................................... 95 Figure 27 Cantlie videos: Arabic-language comments. Source: Youtube .............................. 96 Figure 28 Cantlie videos: English-language comments. Source: Youtube ............................. 96 Figure 29 Total number of tweets available for four repeatedly suspended users using multiple accounts .................................................................................................................... 102 Figure 30 Average number of followers for four repeatedly suspended users (A, B, C, and D) using the sum of all followers for multiple accounts by the same users ............................... 102 Figure 31 One of the hacked accounts under the control of the cybervigilante. Source:Twitter ................................................................................................................................................ 104 المقدمة مع تزايد المخاوف العالمية من التهديدات الحالية والسابقة التي تشكلها المنظمات اﻹرهابية ضد الحكومات والمجتمعات الغربية، من المهم التحقيق في كيفية تمكن الجماعات اﻹسﻻمية الراديكالية من إيجاد توافق في اﻵراء، والشعب الذي يؤلف هذا اﻹجماع. يبدو اﻹرهاب السلفي الجهادي حقيقة بعيدة، ولكنه تمكن من الوصول إلى حياتنا اليومية واﻻستقرار فيها، وزيادة الخوف، وبناء فكرة مثيرة للجدل ضد هذا العدو المشترك. وتهدف هذه اﻷطروحة إلى تحليل كيفية استخدام