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 satirical and was never intended to be in a public place. He denied any knowledge of why it was there.
“The ridiculous 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, which lists polling deadlines for the Pennsylvania and New Jersey primaries from the spring onward, 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 At a bus stop in Philadelphia, poster designs that appropriated official company branding include a Ben & Jerry's-themed poster with an image of President Biden eating an ice cream cone and the caption, “The Rough Road to Democracy.”
Tseng also Posted a photo He created a poster featuring former President Trump that appropriated 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 elicited a strong response from one Philadelphia resident. Fox 29 The man, known as Joe from South Philadelphia, covered up the bus stop poster himself with a printed screenshot of an official Eagles statement denouncing the poster as a 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, everyone has a right to do so, but this individual is lying to everyone who comes and uses this stop. What concerns me greatly is the fact that they are spreading the lie that the Philadelphia Eagles endorse them.” Kamala Harris “As a candidate for president of the United States, I am not going to lie,” Joe said. “Everyone knows Philadelphia is a battleground state in Pennsylvania, and these lies undermine the integrity of our election process.”
A city spokesman said: NBC Philadelphia Someone must have broken into the enclosed space where the bus stop posters are kept and replaced the ones there with counterfeit Harris endorsement 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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