Ads falsely claiming that Vice President Kamala Harris is the "official candidate of the Philadelphia Eagles" were removed from seven locations throughout the city on Tuesday, after the team confirmed they were counterfeit.
The ads showed a sideview of a drawing of a person who is, presumably, Harris, holding a football and wearing an Eagles helmet along with the name, "Kamala" in big, bold letters.
The ads also linked to Philadelphiaeagles.com/vote -- which is a real site that the team has set up to help provide nonpartisan information to allow people to know how to register to vote and learn more about upcoming elections.
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However, there is no listing on that site for any "official candidate."
The ads were spotted at the following locations in Philadelphia on Monday:
- North Broad Street and West Montgomery Avenue
- North Broad Street and Cecil B Moore Avenue
- North 11th Street and West Girard Avenue
- North 16th Street and West Girard Avenue
- North Broad Street and West Girard Avenue
- JFK Boulevard and North 18th Street
- Walnut Street and South 34th Street
Officials began removing the ads late Monday afternoon and evening. One man even covered the ad on Walnut Street and South 34th Street with copies of the Philadelphia Eagles' statement.
By Tuesday, all of the ads were removed.
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Intersection Media, the New York-based company which owns the bus shelters where the ads were spotted, also released a statement.
"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."
A city spokesperson also released a statement in response to the ads, calling them "illegally placed."
"These were not digital ads placed by the Harris campaign, the Philadelphia EAGLES, SEPTA, The City of Philadelphia or the media agency, Intersection, that handles the transit ad space," the spokesperson wrote. "This was not a digital breach; whomever is responsible for the illegally placed posters, broke into the securely covered shelter ad space and somehow put the posters in the space. Intersection has advised the City’s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS) that they plan to conduct a full inventory tomorrow of all bus shelters, and remove any illegally posters. The City has a process to review all bus shelter ads but this, again, was not a digital ad."
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office confirmed Tuesday that their election taskforce is investigating the incident. The Philadelphia police department also referred NBC10 to the District Attorney's Office when we asked if they were investigating.
Meanwhile, both the Trump campaign and Harris campaign responded to the ads.
In a statement, the Pennsylvania Communications Director for Team Trump speculated -- without evidence -- about whether or not the Harris campaign or a Democratic group was responsible for the false ads.
"Misleading voters is something Democrats have perfected to a science, so we really can’t rule either the Kamala Camp or any Democrat group out," the spokesperson wrote.
A spokesperson for the Harris campaign told NBC News they did not purchase the ads.
The incident placed more emphasis on the issue of political misinformation as the 2024 presidential race enters its final stretch before the November election.
“That had all the hallmarks of fake news," Sunil Wattal, the Associate Dean of Temple University's Fox School of Business, told NBC10. "I mean it’s like too good to be true or too bad to be true depending on which side of the aisle you are.”
Wattal said there are signs to look out for when trying to determine if information posted on social media is false.
"If a lot of people are forwarding similar stuff which is coming from anonymous sources I mean that’s a characteristic of fake news," he said. “As we get closer to the election and as there’s less time to react you’ll see a lot more fake news designed to sway, influence at the very last minute. I mean you’d expect to see a lot of those as well.”
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