Marke „Osama“. Über Kommunikation und Kommerz mit Bin-Laden-Bildern in Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract

„Osama“ as Brand: Communication and Commerce through Images of Bin Laden in Nigeria. Soon after 9/11 Bin Laden merchandise flooded the streets and markets of, predominately Muslim, Northern Nigeria. Later on, singers and filmmakers released songs and films which commented on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. While the emergence of such products may be explained by the commercial logic of „politicsploitation“ (Armbrust), the meaning attributed to Bin Laden and the communicative use of his image remain largely obscure by such an explanation. In moving beyond the concept of „politicsploitation“ this essay pays close attention to a number of Bin Laden inspired products (posters, films, stickers) and interprets their significance in relation to the wider Nigerian context in which they emerged – between 2001 and 2003, a period characterised by intense political and religious debates. I argue that the local meanings and communicative function of Bin Laden images are based in the transfer of global lines of conflict – simplified and reduced to „USA vs. Bin Laden“ or „Christians vs. Muslims“ – onto local Nigerian conflicts being played out between Muslims and Christians since 1999 due to the reintroduction of shariah law in twelve of the federation’s northern states. For a number of Nigerian Muslims Bin Laden serves as an icon of a new and radical brand of Islam and has become a kind of ‘surrogate prophet’. To a certain extent Bin Laden’s image, especially his face, has filled a gap within new visual public spaces, which emerged in Nigerian cities during the past decade and which are dominated by the advertisement of political ideologies and religious faiths. As occurs elsewhere, this kind of visual communication draws upon the anthropological logic of advertising ideas and products through the faces of well-known religious or political personalities. Within this logic Bin Laden’s face developed into a brand of radical Islam and an icon of just and selfless Islamic leadership, and, as such, was used by members of the Muslim masses to communicate a new radical identity vis-à-vis both their Christian fellow countrymen and their own political and economic elites.