The U.S. State Department is producing anti-Islamic State propaganda to persuade American and other would-be jihadis not to join the extremist group. It’s ham-handed, and often sarcastic, and unlikely to have the intended effect.

Why? Because the department fails to understand how Islamic State attracts recruits in the first place.

One way to make sense of all this — bear with me here — is to look at the appeal of Alcoholics Anonymous. AA does not recruit members, it attracts them. Long experience suggests that people who impulsively make decisions that actually require a long-term commitment will almost certainly fail. As the entry point for joining, AA thus asks prospective members to first make a commitment to not drink. Ads for the organization never try to seduce alcoholics into joining. The focus instead is on what AA can do for them. If they want what it offers – sobriety — and are committed to working toward it, AA says, then join.

And so with Islamic State. Islamic State propaganda pulls no punches. Beheading videos, boasts about enslaving women, promises of austere Sharia-led lives, it’s all there. You want what it offers? Come along, because Islamic State wants people who make a positive commitment to join.

The group’s presentation is professional and serious, particularly through its Al Hayat Media Center (no connection to the unaffiliated Egyptian TV channel with a similar name), and aimed specifically at non-Arabic speakers via videos and a magazine based on al Qaeda’s infamous Inspire.

The strategy seems to be working, though number vary. From 12 to 300 Americans have left the country to join Islamic State. Recruitment in Europe and the Arab world is reportedly strong. Some even claim Islamic State are drawing foreign recruits away from the Taliban.

The State Department’s propaganda uses a negative message to counter the attraction of Islamic State media. Started in 2011, it was only in foreign languages, moving into social media — and English – in 2013. This year the work started showing up on YouTube. The current theme of State’s efforts is “Think Again, Turn Away” and the messaging can be found on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and even on the sides of buses in New York City. One YouTube video includes subtitles such as “learn useful skills, such as blowing up mosques” and “crucifying Muslims.” Another features oil being poured on the ground framed as “squandering public resources.”

The content is seemingly written more to appeal to Washington than potential jihadis, as you can see in this example. A lot of the messaging mocks potential recruits, claiming, for example, they read “Islam for Dummies” before heading to Syria.

Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel said, “We have evidence that there are young people who are not joining [Islamic State] because we have somehow interceded. They’re reading the messages, they’re hearing the messages.”

State’s own description of its work in social media is “contesting the space,” but it has not provided evidence that its messaging has dissuaded anyone from joining Islamic State. What details are made public focus on numbers of “likes” and views. The cost of all this runs between $5 million and $6.8 million a year.

Oddly, State’s and Islamic State’s messaging are not all that different, at least in the topics covered. Both stress that recruits are unlikely to survive fighting. State paints that as a terrible choice, while Islamic State categorizes it as a positive one leading to martyrdom. Both feature photos of Christian churches Islamic State destroyed, with obviously different judgments of the act. Both talk about Western life, with Islamic State emphasizing its spiritual emptiness.

Both sides agree that Muslims are killing Muslims. But the view expressed in State’s messaging is that all Muslims are the same, while Islamic State says some (pretenders to the faith who abandoned Sharia) are not pious and it is thus not a violation of the Koranic injunction against internecine violence to kill them. A core audience agrees; one report says 92 percent of Saudi Sunnis see Islamic State’ activities as religiously legal.

The United States’ anti-Islamic State messaging reminds one of the anti-drug “Just Say No” campaign led by Nancy Reagan in the 1980s, which quickly morphed into comic fodder. On the other hand, as with AA, offering people a positive message — you can have what we have — seems more effective. To an alienated young person already looking askance at his society, what Islamic State says may seem more attractive than the mocking, negative message of the State Department. Sadly, many Islamic State recruits are committed to giving their lives for jihad, and its propaganda message reinforces that well. The marketing is slick, but more than that, the message resonates with its intended recipients.

State’s messaging says you’re going to hell. Islamic State says you’re headed to heaven. Both are literally propaganda to die for. Who is winning in that match-up?