IS ‘using’ Nutella, kittens to lure female recruits

News anchor Carol Costello sparks media frenzy with the claim in a segment.

Militants of the Islamic State (IS) may have devised the formula to win a women’s heart. In a segment of her programme on CNN, news anchor Carol Costello and a college professor discussed why women, particularly from the West, end up joining the ranks of IS. Speaking about the various recruitment tactics used by IS, Costello claimed that kittens and the popular Italian hazelnut spread Nutella are among the things the militant group uses to lure women, reported Al-Arabiya News.

“ISIS is talking online about jars of Nutella, pictures of kittens and emojis,” said Costello. “They want people to believe their lives on the battlefield aren’t so different than yours. They actually eat Nutella, and I guess they have pet kittens,” she added. During the transmission, a ticker appearing at the bottom of the screen, along with a picture of a Nutella jar, kittens and emojis, read, “IS lures women with kittens, Nutella.” Costello seemed to have stolen the spotlight from her guest, Nimmi Gowrinathan, with her comments.

Despite Costello’s remarks on the issue, Gowrinthan, an expert on gender and violence, went on to provide a more thorough and intellectual explanation of the matter, reported the Washington Post. “I think the thing to recognise is that women are not fighting for women’s rights, the fight for IS is a fight for something else, it is the idea of a caliphate,” she said.

“It is a political fight, which goes a bit deeper than social media. That is what women are attracted to because they feel safer, because they feel their identity is threatened,” added Gowrinthan. She also took to Twitter to refute notions that emoticons were being used to lure women to join IS, posting, “No, I do not believe emoticons are relevant in recruitment of women to IS.”

The incident has received attention on various social media platforms. This is not the first time that Nutella and cute animals are being associated with the militant outfit. In August 2014, the militants posted pictures on websites, such as Twitter, which showed them posing with Nutella and holding kittens, reported the Daily Mail.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th,  2015.

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