Misinformation campaign
Rogue anti-vax ad pops up at BK bus stop
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
An anti-vaccine advertisement
popped up at a bus stop
shelter in Crown Heights on-
Dec. 2, and city offi cials say
someone installed the poster
without authorization.
The sixgn at the B43 bus
stop on Kingston Avenue and
Carroll Street lists the “Top ten
reasons not to get vaccinated
against COVID-19” and includes
a website and a contact
phone number at the bottom.
A man answering the
phone claimed he was not connected
to the poster, and told
this reporter to reach out to
the organization “directly.”
An email to the address
listed on the organization’s
website was not immediately
returned.
The sign is designed to
look almost exactly like an
ad campaign by the city’s Department
of Health and Jewish
health groups to encourage
vaccinations, which one
New York Times reporter
spotted in Brooklyn’s Borough
COURIER LIFE, D 16 ECEMBER 10-16, 2021
park neighborhood.
here is the original, which
I caught at a bus stop in Borough
Park pic.twitter.com/
LntgDshWfV
— Michael Gold (@migold)
December 2, 2021
The misleading poster in
Crown Heights was fi rst discovered
by a local resident
who snapped a picture of it
and published it on Twitter
where it quickly went viral.
“I stopped and turned
around when I saw what was
on the ad,” said Allison H.,
who asked that her full name
not be published.
She saw other passersby
stopping to read it, which
worried her that they would
start believing lies about the
vaccines.
“This shows how misinformation
can make its way in
and defeat public health guidance,”
she said.
The sign and its shelter
is managed by the city’s Department
of Transportation
through a public-private partnership
with billboard company
JCDecaux.
DOT spokesman Seth Stein
said in a social media post
that the ad was not sold by the
franchisee and that it is being
removed “immediately.”
“Most likely someone
popped open the glass. Investigation
ongoing,” Stein wrote
on Twitter. “Disinformation
has no place in our city, or our
street furniture.”
A spokesman for JCDecaux
said it was an “unauthorized”
sign and that the
company didn’t get payment
for it.
“The creative you are referencing
was not installed
by JCDecaux but was placed
in the bus shelter in an unauthorized
manner. JCDecaux
did not approve, install
or receive payment for the
copy,” said Joseph Hodge in
an emailed statement.
A spokesperson for the
MTA, which runs the buses
but is not responsible for the
shelters, said the agency appreciates
The sign at Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, lists 10 reasons
not to get vaccinated against COVID-19. @allisongeroi/via Twitter
the city’s removal of
the poster.
“Bus shelters are not
MTA property and though
we would prefer not to have
objectionable messages marketed
to our customers, we
have no power to manage content
for these facilities,” said
Tim Minton in an emailed
statement.
COVID-19 vaccines are
safe and effective in preventing
severe illness or death
from the virus and limiting
its spread, according to the
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
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