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,
Brooklyn on Thursday, Dec. 2,
and city offi cials say someone
installed the misinformation
poster without authorization.
The sign 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 Park
neighborhood.
The misleading poster in
Crown Heights was fi rst discovered
considerin
You can rely on my
COURIER LIFE, D 24 ECEMBER 10-16, 2021
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not be published.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 passers-by
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. “The copy
violates the advertising guidelines
for the program and deprived
the lawful advertiser
of their advertising space. We
are replacing it immediately
with authorized copy and will
replace any other such unauthorized
copy that we become
aware of.”
A spokesperson for the
MTA, which runs the buses
but is not responsible for the
shelters, said the agency appreciates
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, which are
controlled by the City of New
York. We appreciate NYC DOT
announcing it will remove ads
that spread disinformation
during a public health crisis,”
said Tim Minton in an emailed
statement.
The ZIP code of Crown
Heights where the bus stop is
(11231) has a below-average
vaccination rate, at just 60 percent
for at least one dose and
53 percent of both shots, compared
to 77.1 percent and 69.5
percent citywide, according to
the city’s Health Department.
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.
The sign at Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, lists 10 reasons
not to get vaccinated against COVID-19. @allisongeroi/via Twitter
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