On Thursday April 24, 2013 at the Bumble & Bumble auditorium, Artur Beifuss and Steven Heller presented the lecture AIGA/NY: Branding Terror. The lecture showcased the research from the book Branding Terror, which highlights the branding of some of the world’s major terrorist groups.
Artur Beifuss, who has done extensive research on Islamic activism and terrorism, is co-author of Branding Terror. Beifuss recounted how Francesco Trivini Bellini approached him about the book due to their shared interest of branding. According to Beifuss, “the book is not meant to be political,” but about the branding and iconography behind these organizations.
Beifuss started with showing icons of some of the most recognizable brands such as Coca-Cola and Mercedez Benz. The research into icons for terrorist groups was not always as readily available. Beifuss sometimes started with googling the group name in hopes of finding something.
Sometimes he would ask for a press kit, and sometimes he would just simply try and email the group, which would rarely result in a response. However, some groups such as Al Qaeda the Hezbollah, were readily available and their logos were plastered all over the internet. Beifuss then used the Hezbollah symbol as a case study for the remainder of the lecture.
He asked the audience “What is a brand?” By definition, a brand must be differentiated, credible, and emotional.
Diving into the Hezbollah brand, Beifuss showed the imagery one finds within the icon. From the Koran, to an AK47, each symbol represented a belief or struggle of the group not just the men, but women as well. Groups must think of “what message they want to bring across” as “a logo can tell a lot about a group” according to Beifuss. The first part of the lecture ended with the author continuing to show more logos of different groups and how many of them derived from one another.
Stephen Heller presented the second part of the lecture. Heller, who was a former art director at the New York Times, also wrote the forward for Branding Terror and focused not so much on the book, but about the idea of terrorism. The US has always been against terrorism ever since he can recall. Heller recounted the fear he would experience every time he heard the raid alarms during the war. On cue, a loud raid alarm went off for the entire audience to hear.
Heller defined terrorism by the definition of “terror is relative.” Pictures of suicide car bombings as well as the Hiroshima bombings were shown on the screen which lead Heller to ask the audience if these were “acts of terror or consequence of war?” Terrorists here could be heroes elsewhere.
Heller focused on one of the most iconic symbols that we don’t normally associate with terrorism, but still conveys fear—the swastika. He detailed the development of this iconic logo from its Runic days and how it came to represent a nation.
Even today, derivatives of this symbol are present in many groups. According to Heller, it was not a racist symbol, but evolved into one over time much like many other symbols. Heller concluded his lecture by going through other symbols that are used to evoke terror such as the clinched fist, the anarchy logo, and guns. Whether terrorists or freedom fighters, every faction or group has a logo or some type of branding.
The lecture ended with an open Q&A. Following the Q&A session, members were encouraged to attend the book signing and meet the author in the library of Bumble & Bumble.
Additional Information:
Branding Terror Facebook Page
Buy Branding Terror on Amazon
Event Details:
AIGA/NY Branding Terror
Event photos:
Click here to view all photos from AIGA/NY Branding Terror on Flickr. To view additional photos, or to contribute your phototos, visit our AIGA/NY Flickr Group.
Special thanks to guest contributing writer, Tony Le, for the AIGA/NY Branding Terror recap and photos.