ISIS Has New Pitch For Any Simpletons Willing To Listen

LINK: Fishing and Ultraviolence: The strange world 
of IS advertising

Terrorist group’s media machine steps up positive propaganda in its sales pitch describing a utopian state to Muslims

In a bustling Iraqi city, road crews fill potholes, while hundreds of miles away in Syria administrators prepare for the new school year and bureaucrats implement a new crop-watering regimen.

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Welcome to a week in Islamic State—or at least the vision of the state the terrorist group wants to portray to Muslims skeptical of its self-ascribed authority.

Last year, Islamic State stormed to prominence with its ruthless military tactics and brutal execution videos. Now, its media machine has pivoted to a different—yet still controversial—sales pitch: that it is energetically building the utopian state its puritanical ideology promises.

Youngsters watch Islamic State propaganda films
 in a mobile cinema near the Syria-Iraq border

During a single month this summer, from mid-July to mid-August, Islamic State produced nearly 900 pieces of Arab-language propaganda, including radio broadcasts, public-service announcements, pamphlets and religious decrees. More than half of this output—52%—focused on quality-of-life issues like food, utilities and schools, while 37% was devoted to military themes. Scenes of brutality, like execution videos, comprised 2%.

Islamic State propaganda is churning out idyllic farmyard 

scenes, like this grape harvest, that try to portray a utopian 

view of life under the caliphate

Brutality remains a high-profile tactic—Islamic State was accused of executing dozens of Iraqi tribal opponents last week as well as inspiring last weekend’s suicide bombings in Turkey. But Western officials who monitor Islamic State say the data reflect a shift away from fear-based messaging to attempts at positive branding they have tracked since the spring. The group’s official media outlets have more than doubled their output, compared with production levels analyzed in May.

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