The subway station at Cecil B. Moore Avenue and Broad Street now looks like it did months ago. The new outdoor advertisements were taken down about a month after they were put up.
SEPTA’s marketing team had approached Temple with an advertisement package to cover the glass roof of the station. SEPTA says, a local community group, the Cecil B. Moore Philadelphia Freedom Fighters approached them with concerns.
SEPTA spokesman Francis Kelly says the two organizations had a meeting which ultimately led to the advertisements being taken down. “They thought that it was over the top. People from the street, and i’m the first to admit it, if you were to drive up the street you’d think that was Temple Station,” Kelly said.
Temple was not invited to the meeting and says it had no clue about any issues until afterwards.
The university says it thought the marketing plan was a good idea that improved the station while honoring its namesake and that the university is proud of its association with Moore, the Temple law school graduate and respected civil rights leader.
But not all residents were upset with the Temple branding effort. Charmaine Daniels has lived here since Cecil B. Moore Ave was Columbia Avenue. She enjoyed seeing the station makeover. “Temple is the heart of Philadelphia. Anything that’s inclusive for students learning, getting education… put the billboards back up! Temple is Philadelphia,” Daniels told Temple Update.
SEPTA will fully reimburse Temple, but neither party would say how much the marketing campaign cost. SEPTA officials have apologized for any inconvenience and hopes to repair its relationship with Temple.
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