A new advertisement that surfaced on Monday in Philadelphia had Vice President Kamala Harris holding a football while dressed like an Eagles player. Bold letters read “KAMALA” over the slogan, which read, “Official candidate of the Philadelphia Eagles.”
It was verified by the NFL team that the commercials were false.
“We are aware that fake political advertisements are being shared and are collaborating with our advertising partner to have them taken down,” the Eagles stated on social media.
At least six of the fake ads were spotted around the city, according to NBC Philadelphia, before they were removed later on Monday. Nobody seems to know who was in charge of them.
In addition, the advertising linked to a legitimate, nonpartisan website called Philadelphiaeagles.com/vote, which provides information about upcoming elections and how to register to vote.
In a statement provided to NBC Philadelphia, Intersection Media—the owner of the bus stop advertising space where the posters were discovered—claimed that the ads were not paid for but were instead forced into the space.
In a statement made by Scott Goldsmith, President and CEO of Intersection Media, the company acknowledged that some of its bus shelters in Philadelphia had been damaged and that unauthorized copy had substituted the paid advertising in each of those shelters.
The ad boxes are protected to prevent vandalism, but occasionally somebody find a way to open them and insert unlawful information, as mentioned in the statement.
“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,” he added.
An official from the city confirmed the violent break-ins to NBC Philadelphia.
“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,” according to the spokeswoman.
A deepfake featuring Kamala Harris went popular in July, while earlier this year, AI-generated pictures of Donald Trump circulated false information.
When AWN reached out to the Kamala Harris campaign for comment, they did not react right away.
