Philadelphia Eagles remove viral ‘counterfeit’ Kamala Harris ads from bus stops

Ads claimed that U.S. vice president was the "official candidate" of the NFL team

Published Sep 04, 2024  •  2 minute read

Counterfeit ads featuring Kamala Harris in a Philadelphia Eagles helmet have been removed. Twitter

The Philadelphia Eagles famously won a Super Bowl thanks to a trick play, but now someone has pulled a trick on them.

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The team is working to have “counterfeit” ads removed from around the city of Philadelphia which endorse U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris as the “official candidate” of the team.

The ads were posted on several bus stops around the city feature a cartoon of a woman resembling Harris holding a football and wearing an Eagles helmet. Below is the team’s logo and “KAMALA” in all-caps.

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A URL at the bottom which directs to the team’s actual website offers nonpartisan voting information for residents of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

“We are aware counterfeit political ads are being circulated and are working with our advertising partner to have them removed,” the Eagles posted on their X account.

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Many Eagles supporters spoke up about the ads on social media with some even threatening to abandon their fandom.

“I hope the graffiti artists do the right thing here,” one user wrote on X.

Another wrote that “If this is a fact I personally will not root or watch any games this season and will be hoping they lose as bad as Kamala is about to lose this election!”

“I saw those ads and literally threw up. I can no longer support this team,” a third replied.

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In a statement to a local NBC affiliate, Intersection Media, which owns the ad space, said that ads were unauthorized and the company is removing them.

“We are aware that several of our bus shelters located in Philadelphia have been vandalized and that the paid advertising copy in each of those shelters has been replaced with unauthorized copy,” a spokesperson wrote. “While our bus shelters have locks that typically prevent the installation of unauthorized copy by non-Intersection staff, occasionally people find a way to unlock the ad box and insert unauthorized copy.

“The unauthorized copy in this case implies an endorsement of Vice-President Kamala Harris by the Philadelphia Eagles.

“We note that the Eagles and Intersection had nothing to do with the creation or posting of this unauthorized copy and Intersection staff will be removing the ads as soon as possible.”

According to NBC, all seven of the ads had been taken down by Tuesday.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office confirmed to the outlet that its election taskforce is investigating the incident.

While no one has taken credit for the viral ads, some have posited the artwork is that of Winston Tseng, a street artist who satirizes brands to highlight societal issues.

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