In a city rife with history and mystery, Philadelphia’s great Kamala Harris-Eagles poster hoax of 2024 is turning into quite the enigma.
Over 48 hours after counterfeit posters showing the Philadelphia Eagles endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris were discovered at several public transportation stops, city officials were still perplexed regarding the person or persons responsible. No one has claimed responsibility for the act, nor has the culprit been identified.
The only thing known about the incident is that no one knows who did it or how it happened. I have contacted all three parties that would have some connection to the signs: the city of Philadelphia, the city’s public transportation company since the posters were in enclosed cases at bus stops, and the Philadelphia Eagles. All denied any connection or knowledge of who did it.
Initially, it was challenging to determine who bears responsibility for the bus stops where the posters were discovered. After the Eagles denied any connection to the posters through a social media post on Monday, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority later told me the city of Philadelphia was in charge of them.
“SEPTA does not own the bus shelters, so we don’t handle those ad spaces,” a representative told me. “The shelters are owned by the city.”
I proceeded to email Philadelphia. A communications representative from the city government replied, explaining that the city was unaware of how the posters appeared. I was merely informed that the posters were placed there illegally and that city officials were investigating how it happened.
“A number of illegally placed posters of Kamala Harris and the Philadelphia Eagles were placed in bus shelters in Philadelphia,” the city representative told me in an email. “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. This was not a digital breach; whoever 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 illegal posters. The City has a process to review all bus shelter ads but this, again, was not a digital ad,” the city representative explained.
Intersection is the company in charge of advertisements at the bus stops. The fake political posters were removed by Monday evening, according to CBS News. Intersection claimed to have removed all the posters throughout the city and categorized the incidents as acts of vandalism and theft. The company released a statement on Tuesday.
“We consider this act not only vandalism but also theft, as the perpetrators stole both the existing advertising copy and the paid advertising space,” the statement from Intersection read. “The revenue generated from these ads is vital, as a portion goes to the City and helps maintain the bus shelters, which are valuable amenities for the citizens of Philadelphia. When ads are illegally removed or replaced, it undermines our ability to generate revenue and support the overall bus shelter program.”
“We have already removed seven of the unauthorized ads and are conducting a survey to ensure no other shelters have been vandalized. At this time, we do not know who is responsible for putting them up. We are currently determining our next steps, which may include filing a police report, and we will cooperate with law enforcement as necessary,” it added.
Attempts to contact the city on Wednesday morning for an update on the situation were unsuccessful.
It’s a bit embarrassing for Philadelphia for there not to be any information available to the public on how this happened. Even though it was not involved with the posters, and the city cannot control the actions of people who violate the law, it feels like there has been a lack of transparency. Unless the culprit was also a technology wizard and executed a heist-style movie kind of disarming of security cameras, there is footage of whoever placed these posters at the bus stops. Maybe the investigation is still ongoing, but the lack of any viable update is puzzling.
As a lifelong resident in the area, I would bet that nothing will ever come of any investigation of the matter, especially since the posters supported Harris. I think the city will either drag out any supposed “investigation” of how this happened until it becomes old news and most of the city forgets about it, or if there is any legitimate investigation, whoever is responsible will be let off with a light punishment and never truly be held accountable.
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This is a city where the district attorney works to keep murderers out of jail and regularly doesn’t hold criminals accountable. Someone breaking into cases at bus stops to hang posters of Harris doesn’t stand a chance at being served justice.
Granted, while the presence of a fraudulent poster of Harris in an Eagles uniform is admittedly not the most serious of crimes, I would venture to say that the response would be quite different if these posters featured former President Donald Trump in an Eagles uniform and claimed Trump was the preferred candidate of the NFL franchise. Even though I do not have any evidence to support such a claim, it would not be challenging to envision such a reality in which such a poster placed in a case at a bus stop would be investigated for political interference, harassment, intimidation, or any other serious crime one could imagine.