ISIS luring women with ‘kittens, Nutella’ – CNN

The first segment of this morning’s Newsroom broadcast featured CNN anchor Carol Costello interviewing City College New York visiting professor Nimmi Gowrinathan about the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) recruiting women into its ranks.



But the chyron – the banner on the bottom of the screen – proclaimed “ISIS lures women with kittens, Nutella”. The interview was accompanied by a splash screen picturing the popular Italian hazelnut spread and kittens.

CNN reports "Nutella, kittens, emoji" being used by ISIS to lure women recruits: http://t.co/O3E4ZRfCb0 http://ift.tt/1DDj0se

— TVNewser (@tvnewser) February 18, 2015

“ISIS is talking online about jars of Nutella, pictures of kittens and emojis,” said Costello, adding, “they want people to believe their life on the battlefield isn’t so different than yours. They actually eat Nutella and I guess they have pet kittens.”



The CNN chyron quickly became a meme, with reactions ranging from incredulous to mocking. Max Fisher of Vox.com first tweeted “Oh please we recruited half of our staff with kittens and nutella.”

CNN says ISIS is recruiting with “kittens and nutella.” Fox News announces “The Holy War Begins.” What do you got for us MSNBC.

— Max Fisher (@Max_Fisher) February 18, 2015

Later he added:

CNN says ISIS is recruiting with “kittens and nutella.” Fox News announces “The Holy War Begins.” What do you got for us MSNBC.

— Max Fisher (@Max_Fisher) February 18, 2015

By contrast, journalist Heidi N. Moore praised CNN’s choice of phrase:

Joke as we will, that CNN chyron about kittens and Nutella was genius. That’s how you grab a viewer’s attention on a long-running story.

— Heidi N Moore (@moorehn) February 18, 2015

The contents of the interview did not match the slick packaging, however. Professor Gowrinathan seriously addressed the issue of disenfranchised women flocking to the group she described as “this seventh century ideology that is using 21st century technology.” She added that, “In France they actually found that 45 percent of the people calling the hotline to join ISIS were young women.”



Nothing sweet or cuddly about that.

@FearDept @AnonyOps @fabiomaster Oh yes, of course I'll sell my soul for Nutella. Because I'm just a woman. What do I know?

— Tami Brewster-Barnes (@TamiBrewster) February 18, 2015