ISIS DO use pics of Nutella and kittens to convince Western teens to sign-up for terror… despite fanatics claiming it was a hoax
A TOP government report has claimed ISIS recruiters DO use photos of Nutella jars and cute cat GIFs to tempt young westerners to join up.
The study claims gruesome images of violence and promises of paradise are not the only ways to attract new jihadi warriors and “lone wolf” attackers.
Reports in the US last year which claimed the terror group were using pix of cats and chocolate spread were quickly laughed off by many – including ISIS.
But now a study commissioned by the Swedish government claims the extremist group is doing just that and pushing its ‘Jihadi Cool’ subculture to draw in teens.
The study, titled , was carried out by the Swedish Defence Research Agency.
Supporters of ISIS took to Twitter to mock claims the terrorist organisation was luring recruits – particularly women – into its fold using Nutella.
One Brit born militant who posed with a jar of the spread later died in a suicide mission.
Terrorist Abu Hurairah Britani is believed to have died in a “martyrdom operation” as part of an operation in the north of Baiji, Iraq.
One social media user calling themselves Abu Abdulla Amriki, who claimed to be an ISIS fighter in Syria, posted a joke message about struggling to find a wife.
“Yeh…so this is how I heard we get married…lol Why am I still single?[sic],” he posted alongside a photo of a kitten playing with a jar.
But those that carried out the new study stand by their claims.
Like all youth subcultures , ISIS has its own music, clothing style, and its own trends, according to FOI researcher Lisa Kaati, one of the report’s authors.
“The guys wear baggy trousers, sneakers, whereas the women have a very traditional style,”she .
“The women aren’t usually counted as part of the Jihadi cool style.”
One Tumblr account mentioned in the report contains a bizarre mixture of knives, blood and Jihadi warriors mixed in with GIFs of cats and kittens.
“That is perhaps what characterises it: there are so many Western references,” said Kaati.
“You’ll see a picture of a person standing in a supermarket holding up a Nutella jar, but then you notice that the person is carrying a rifle.
“The references are very subtle.”
The use of Western imagery could perhaps be seen unlikely for an extremist movement that hates the culture.
But Kaati said ISIS would have been much less successful in its recruitment of people from the West had the group not been able to use references they can relate to.
“People who are attracted to this propaganda are often second-generation immigrants, and they have grown up in Western countries,” she said.
“To those people, it’s a natural part of their lifestyle.
“Many researchers have found that for those people who are attracted by the propaganda, the ideology is secondary to the lifestyle.
“What they’re after is more about the ‘coolness’ – having lots of cool weapons, Grand Theft Auto video-game style. Quite a bit like gangster culture in general.”
The FOI was given the task of carrying out the study by the Swedish government.
The aim is to increase awareness, for instance among Sweden’s local councils in their work against violent extremism, and among schools, NGOs and mosques.
Sweden’s security police believes around 300 people have travelled from Sweden to the Middle East since 2012 to join violent Islamist groups.