Eagles Distance Themselves from “Counterfeit” Political Advertisements [UPDATED]
Updated 5:55 PM to include comments from SEPTA and the City of Philadelphia’s advertising partner.
Political advertisements using Philadelphia Eagles intellectual property are appearing around Philadelphia that the team called “counterfeit.”
The advertisements, seen in signage in the city’s bus shelters, call Kamala Harris the “Official Candidate of the Philadelphia Eagles.” The advertisement shows a woman in an Eagles helmet and the Philadelphia Eagles logo, and refers people to the Eagles’ Philadelphia Votes site. The site describes nonpartisan voter registration efforts by the Eagles and makes no candidate endorsement.
An Eagles spokesperson reached for comment by Birds Nest Media referred to a tweet sent out addressing the matter, indicating that the team is working to have the counterfeit ads taken down.
Pennsylvania is a battleground state for the presidential election this November.
UPDATE: A spokesperson for SEPTA indicated that they do not own the city’s bus shelters and referred all questions to the city. The City of Philadelphia partners with the advertising firm Intersection to provide the advertisements throughout the city’s bus shelters. Intersection noted in a statement that the advertisements were unauthorized and replaced the paid advertising copy that was legitimately in the bus shelters.
“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,” the statement read. “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.”
