Flag's stars & crescent facing wrong way: Town council takes responsibility for NDP banner, says no AI involved

Days after AI-generated National Day banners in Bedok sparked controversy, design inconsistencies on another decorative banner has been called out.

A poster featuring a child holding a Singapore flag with the stars and crescent in the wrong orientation was flagged.

Other flags featured, however, were accurately depicted.

Photos of it have circulated on Facebook and Reddit, with commenters questioning whether the error was a result of AI generation, and why it was not checked before the poster was put up.

Person who submitted photo responds

An Instagram user claimed to have submitted the original photo for the banner.

Included in their Jul. 25 post was a photo that appeared to be the same one used in the banner, except that the flag featured the stars and crescent in the correct orientation.

The user wrote in the caption: "How did the AI NDP [National Day Parade] poster error happen?" .

The user added:

"The images we selected and edited were with the right Singapore flag orientation, but the outcome was not as expected!"

Submitted photo

Speaking to Mothership, the user explained that when they shot the photos for submission, they wanted to capture the children's "genuine and unique friendship formed".

"Our children were so excited to see their faces printed, but this well-intended initiative took a wrong turn with the online community."

Not AI error: Town council

The Pasir Ris-Changi Town Council shared that the photo used in the banner was submitted by a resident to a National Day photography contest, Lianhe Zaobao reported.

The contest was aimed at encouraging residents to share their treasured memories, engage in social cohesion, and participate in National Day celebrations.

On the error, the town council explained that in the final stage of designing the banner, one of the flags from the original image was incorrectly edited such that the flag was facing the wrong direction.

They admitted that the error should not have happened, and accepted full responsibility for it.

They also clarified that AI image generation was not used at all throughout the creation and editing of the banner.

The affected banners have been removed, and the town council will reach out to apologise to the families who sent the original photo.

The town council said it is currently reviewing its design and review processes, and will improve quality control measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

It will continue to present Singapore's national symbols with care and respect, it added.

Errors spotted on other banners

Mothership previously reported about National Day banners in Bedok North that featured a flag sans stars and crescent.

The Kampong Chai Chee Community Club (CC) clarified on Jul. 21 that the banners were created by resident volunteers who were "not aware that the AI-generated banner contained inaccuracies".

On Jul. 25, another banner surfaced on Facebook with users pointing out a grammatical error.

Instead of "61st", it read "61th birthday".

Some commenters wondered if the mistake might have come from reusing a template from the previous year.

The part of the design that includes the error was also seen on a different National Day banner.