Evil™ — Islamic State, conflict-capitalism, and the Geopolitical Uncanny

Abstract

ABSTRACTTo make sense of so-called Islamic State’s stunning rise to power, and counterintuitive success in captivating media attention and attracting global recruits, commentators often describe the organisation through the lens of ‘the brand’. Such assessments rarely take under serious consideration the world of public relations and marketing. This article, conversely, applies the logic of the boardroom to the battleground of IS, assessing the group as the War on Terror’s corporate competitor for hegemonic control of conflict-capitalism’s global market. To apprehend IS through its Western-facing brand identity is to encounter a monstrous Geopolitical Uncanny-through which Islamic State traps us in the tautological trade of apocalyptic warfare: a captive market ultimately created in our own image. Islamic State positions itself for American consumers as ultimate threat to our very civilizational soul, rendered legible in a localised brand identity that responds to audience expectation: Evil™. IS’ designer apocalypse promises to deliver zero-sum annihilation, and leaves us no other choice than buy-or-die. Yet there is more to the success story of this insurgent start-up than a receptive market. Islamic State’s sales pitch, after all, is industry standard for conflict-capitalism. Every combatant group attempts to project an inflated threat capacity to enemy and competitor; in the global attention economy, imagistic intimidation comprises a causal prerequisite for market visi/viability and product differentiation. Not all organisations, however, meet with such superlative success. Seduced by the shiny veneer of Evil™, American consumers did not simply purchase a designer branded apocalypse; we accepted the image projected as that of sinister authenticity, and in the process-unwittingly invested in Islamic State stock, transforming from customers to shareholders. Herein resides the terrifyingly valuable symbiosis of supply and demand, for the fear by which Evil™ obtains designer brand equity is not that of potential annihilation, but certain recognition-too vivid for direct contemplation.