A poster featuring Kamala Harris in an Eagles uniform and reading “Kamala, Official Candidate for the Philadelphia Eagles” was found at a Philadelphia bus stop and found to be a fake last week.
Winston Tseng, a Philadelphia artist who identified himself as the creator of the work, released a statement on Monday claiming that the poster was a satirical piece and was never intended to be displayed in a public place. He denied any knowledge of why it was placed there.
“The silly poster of Kamala Harris in an Eagles helmet is my work, but I don't know why it ended up on a bus stop in Philadelphia,” Tseng wrote.
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Tseng claims that when he designed the piece, it wasn't intended as a promotion for the Harris campaign, but rather to lampoon the notion of celebrities or sports organizations wholeheartedly endorsing a political candidate.
“My work uses branding and advertising to communicate social issues. In a way, this poster is a parody of the ads you see along I-95 advertising 'Official Beer' and 'Official Accountant of the Philadelphia Eagles.' But the title of this piece is 'Political Endorsement,' and that's the issue,” Tseng said. “Why do we care who Hulk Hogan or a corporation endorses? We're here anyway. I think the strong reaction to this satirical endorsement reflects our times.”
The posters were initially spotted at 16th and Spring Garden, 18th and JFK, and 34th and Walnut Streets in Philadelphia during the first two days of September. The poster below, taken at 16th and Spring Garden, was removed last Monday afternoon.
But the poster also has a link printed beneath the caption to the Eagles' voting website, showing polling deadlines for the Pennsylvania and New Jersey primaries from the spring, as well as links for first-time voters, polling locations and guidelines for registering to vote and requesting a ballot.
NFL team says Eagles' political ad supporting presidential candidate Kamala Harris is 'fake'
Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at EnMarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia, on August 29, 2024. Harris has been campaigning in southeast Georgia for the past two days. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Tseng has previously posted photos of posters he designed for bus stops in Philadelphia that appropriate official company branding, including a Ben & Jerry's-themed poster featuring an image of President Biden eating an ice cream cone with the caption “The Rocky Road to Democracy.”
Tseng also posted a photo of his poster depicting former President Trump appropriating the Pepto-Bismol brand, which featured Trump on a white background with the words “Nausea, Heartburn, Riots, Upset Stomach, Diarrhea.”
Meanwhile, the Harris Eagles posters went up just a week before Tuesday night's presidential debate between Harris and Trump at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, which is scheduled to air on ABC.
The poster drew a strong response from a Philadelphia resident, identified by FOX 29 as Joe from South Philadelphia, who personally covered up the bus stop poster by printing out a screenshot of the Eagles' official statement denouncing the poster as fake.
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Joe, a Philadelphia Eagles fan from South Philadelphia, printed out a copy of the Eagles' statement to cover up a fake political ad that made it appear the team was endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president. (FOX 29)
“My concern here is not that someone is expressing an opinion, which everyone has a right to, but that this individual is lying to everyone who comes and uses this stop. What I am extremely concerned about is the fact that he is spreading the lie that the Philadelphia Eagles have endorsed Kamala Harris for President of the United States,” Joe said. “We all know Philadelphia is a battleground state in Pennsylvania, and these lies undermine the integrity of our election process.”
A city spokesperson told NBC Philadelphia that someone must have broken into the enclosed space where the bus stop posters are stored and replaced the ones there with counterfeit pro-Harris posters.
“This was not a digital infringement. The individual responsible for the illegal posters gained access to a secure, covered bus stop advertising space and posted their posters in some manner. Intersection has notified the City's Office of Transportation Infrastructure Systems (OTIS) that they will be conducting a full inventory of all bus stops tomorrow and removing all illegal posters. The City has a process for reviewing all bus stop advertising, and again, this was not a digital advertisement.”
According to election and polling analysis, Pennsylvania could be a “tipping point” in the 2024 presidential election. Bets on Harris winning Pennsylvania projected the vice president to receive 270 electoral votes and Donald Trump's 268. If Trump wins the state, he would receive 287 electoral votes and Harris 251.
Polls in the state have shown Trump gaining support and narrowing Harris' previous lead in the state.
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