New Zealand needs a new flag. Unfortunately for the country’s government, many of the submissions rolling in are not what you’d call serious.
“This is the first time in history that all New Zealanders will have a say in the design of the NZ flag,” reads a website for the nation-wide design contest, titled “The NZ flag—your chance to decide.”
Here are some of the options that New Zealanders have come up with:
“Southern Cross”
Cameron Smith
“Rebirth”
Tristan Klein
“Taking off the Mask”
Cia Bigguoy
As you can see, they don’t exactly scream “internationally recognizable standard of the great people of New Zealand.”
Understandably, many of the designs focus on the country’s beloved kiwi.
“Keep the Kiwi 2”
KC
“NZ 1 Tribal Kiwi – Waves representing Islands, and the southern Cross Version 6”
Frank Martinoff
Those are all fun, but this is our personal favorite kiwi design.
“Fire the Lazar!”
James Gray
Naturally, that last design is causing quite a stir among people whose submissions were rejected.
“Why was my flag considered inappropriate and yet it was acceptable to present a sheep with a star for an eye, or a kiwi shooting laser beams?” one woman asked. “How does a crappy smiley face or stick figure riding a bike get accepted, but a rural farmer enjoying New Zealand’s farm life and representing our proud agricultural heritage does not?”
New Zealanders can submit flag designs through July 16. The public will pick from among the alternatives between Nov. 20 and Dec. 11, and the chosen alternative will be pitted against the current flag between March 3 and March 24, 2016. Now where can I bootleg a copy of MS Paint?