We live in an age in which it’s easy for anybody with the right amount of creativity and the right software to create something false but believable. For all the worries about deep-fakes and “cheap-fakes” and AI-generated songs, we can’t forget how easy it is for somebody to create a photo that’s inaccurate but looks real.
Someone with the right amount of skill in Affinity, Photoshop, or Canva can create something convincing. For example, I’ve used Affinity to create photos for my nieces that look like they’re standing next to their favorite college athletes. Those are just for fun and just for my family’s consumption, of course, but people are using photo and publishing software, along with their artistic talents, to create fake news.
Just ask the Philadelphia Eagles. The NFL franchise is dealing with a bunch of political posters claiming that the team endorsed Kamala Harris.
“A series of posters appeared in Philadelphia on Monday, depicting Vice President Kamala Harris in an Eagles helmet and declaring her the official candidate of the NFL team,” reports The Athletic. “But the Eagles say the posters aren’t theirs.”
A photo of a billboard found in Philly of the #Eagles appearing to endorse Kamala Harris is making the rounds on social media.
— Eagles Nation (@PHLEaglesNation) September 2, 2024
The team has not made any sort of official announcement, and their Voting Resource website listed on it hasn’t been updated since the primary elections. pic.twitter.com/yh4YtRALwC
As you can see from the image above, these aren’t mere letter-sized flyers; they’re massive posters embedded in the frames that normally house legitimate advertisements. Somebody went to a massive effort to install these things, and they paid a pretty penny to print them.
The team is denying any involvement, as is the company that owns the bus stops. Furthermore, the company is going to conduct a full inventory of its bus shelters and remove the offending posters on Tuesday.
We are aware counterfeit political ads are being circulated and are working with our advertising partner to have them removed.
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 2, 2024
“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,” Intersection said in a statement. “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 City of Philadelphia issued a statement to NBC10, agreeing that the ad placement was akin to vandalism. The statement noted that the posters were “not a digital ad.”
“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,” the statement said.
The Harris-Walz campaign declined to comment to NBC10, which doesn’t come as much of a shock. I’m only speculating here, but I imagine the campaign is reveling in the free publicity even if it didn’t have anything to do with the fake ads.
Even though we’ve seen the NFL wade into political waters plenty of times before, The Athletic notes that a team endorsement of a candidate would be unprecedented:
An NFL team endorsing a presidential candidate would be out of the ordinary. The league encourages NFL fans to register to vote and cast a ballot through NFL Votes, a “leaguewide, nonpartisan initiative” started in 2020. All NFL teams have offered their stadiums or practice facilities as sites for voter registration, ballot drop-off, early voting, or as an Election Day location, according to the league.
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