With its incredibly sophisticated propaganda operation, ISIS has successfully enlisted thousands of young Westerners through social media outreach and slickly produced videos over the past few years. Luckily, though, one American student may have just accidentally escaped its grasp: 17-year-old Ibrahim Zubairy was about to watch an ISIS recruitment video, but it had an unskippable Dr. Scholl’s pre-roll ad before it so he just closed the tab.
Phew, that was a close one.
Curious about a gruesome and persuasive ISIS propaganda video titled “No Life Without Jihad,” Zubairy inadvertently avoided radicalization yesterday when he impatiently closed his browser’s tab during an annoying pre-roll ad he was not allowed to skip. The fortuitous 30-second ad for Dr. Scholl’s Memory Fit orthotic insoles immediately blocked the recruitment reel from playing, inspiring Zubairy to try and get around the various 3D renderings of gel technologies by refreshing the page.
Thankfully, though, the propaganda video subsequently reloaded with the same unskippable ad before it, and Zubairy was only able to endure 12 more seconds of the insoles’ all-day shock absorption and triple-action odor control before ultimately closing the tab to go kick around a soccer ball outside instead!
“The commercial about shoes was boring to me,” explained the teenager, noting that he could maybe make it through a 15-second ad, but definitely not a 30-second one. “If it was a funny commercial, maybe I would’ve watched it. But this one just had feet in it.”
“I don’t think I’ll go looking for jihadist videos anymore,” he added.
Wow! While Dr. Scholl’s may not have attracted a new customer, they definitely won a small victory in the war against ISIS. Next time you’re frustrated over having to sit through an autoplay ad, just remember that what’s annoying to you may be what stops someone else from a life of terror.
