Should New Zealand Change its flag?

[Klimax]

It's not just my opinion.

Guess Czech Republic's flag design would pass very well.

 

[Border Reiver]

Guess Czech Republic's flag design would pass very well.

Yes.

The Poles also pass quite handily

 

[Damien Evans]

Why would a proper flag need a "New Zealand Symbol" on it anyways? I know that there is a lot of talk about Canada's flag, but aside from Canada, which other instantly recognisable flag on the plant has the county's plant, or animal as part of the flag?

Consider the Britain's Union Jack, The USA's Stars and Stripes, France's Tricolour, The Swiss Cross, Japan's Red Sun, South Africa's Rainbow Nation, China's Red Stars.

Most people would be able to visualise these flags instantly, yet none have a national plant or animal on them. They use simple and easy to memorise and draw shapes, stars, circles and lines.

When we change our flag, it needs to be simple to draw and use basic shapes to give it's meaning. It needs to have colours that stand out and represent us as a nations, and it needs to look great regardless of the flag's orientation.

Lockwood's design fails on all accounts.

Lebanon. It has a Lebanon Cedar in the middle.

 

[Ladewig]

Yes.

The Poles also pass quite handily

I am not convinced that it does. Rule 5 is be distinctive. If you have a flag that looks exactly like another nation's flag flying upside down, then you have a flag that is not really distinctive enough to use when both national flags are displayed.

I wonder if anyone has asked Polish diplomats and representatives how often they are sat beneath Indonesia's flag.

 

[Information Analyst]

Shouldn't you guys have a flag with a kiwi on it?

It was on the RNZAF aircraft roundel, when they had some.

<ducks and runs for cover>

 

[Information Analyst]

Lebanon. It has a Lebanon Cedar in the middle.

I was thinking Cyprus, but then remembered they've actually got themselves on their flag (alogn with olive branches). Can't think of any other country that does that, although I expect I'll be corrected fairly soon if I'm wrong...

 

[PhantomWolf]

Lebanon. It has a Lebanon Cedar in the middle.

I wouldn't call Lebanon's flag instantly recognisable in the same league as Canada, the UK, France, or the US. Even with the hint of it has a tree, I can't visualise it, though I might know it if I saw it.

 

[The Atheist]

...opinion...

Your and others' opinion.

I don't recall what any consensus or tradition say about being right. Perhaps you could explain it to me. Use the Roman Catholic Church as an example as appropriate.

Nobody else having a bird is irrelevant.

 

[jimbob]

I liked the kiwi with laser eyes.

New Zealanders - even more likely to take the piss in such polls than Brits (c.f. Boaty McBoatfaace poll)

 

[Emily's Cat]

Lebanon. It has a Lebanon Cedar in the middle.

Mexico's eagle and serpent
Cyprus' has olive branches
Hong Kong's orchid
Papua New Guinea's bird of paradise
Uganda's crane
The US flag was nearly a rattlesnake

 

[Emily's Cat]

I wouldn't call Lebanon's flag instantly recognisable in the same league as Canada, the UK, France, or the US. Even with the hint of it has a tree, I can't visualise it, though I might know it if I saw it.

That has less to do with the "recognizability" of their flag, more to do with the relative prominence of the country in your sphere of knowledge.

NZ's flag isn't instantly recognizable to me right now. With a reference, I might be able to pick it out of a lineup, but it's even odds I'd fail spectacularly.

 

[arthwollipot]

And would you be able to pick up (for example) the Ghanaian flag out of a lineup of other African flags?

Not recognising a flag is not a crime. The problem here is that the NZ flag is harder to distinguish from the Australian flag, even when you know what the differences are. If you saw the two of them flying on two adjacent flagpoles, would you be able to reliably say that the Australian one is on the left and the NZ one is on the right?

I think that one of them should change. I don't mind which one. Preferably both.

 

[cullennz]

I just don't want someone else's flag on ours

 

[a_unique_person]

Bunch of pikez.

 

[fleabeetle]

The problem here is that the NZ flag is harder to distinguish from the Australian flag, even when you know what the differences are. If you saw the two of them flying on two adjacent flagpoles, would you be able to reliably say that the Australian one is on the left and the NZ one is on the right?

I think that one of them should change. I don't mind which one. Preferably both.

Seems easy to me (not a New Zealander nor Australian, and knowing what some of the differences are). The Australian flag has its Southern Cross stars all white; the NZ one's stars are red-bordered-with-white. And one flag has one more star than the other -- I, not being very numerate, go by the colours instead.

Of course, I have a certain amount of interest in NZ / Australia, and in flags in general -- which doesn't go for everyone. Aide-memoires, perhaps -- Aussie = albino; NZ: well-known places therein, Wellington (white) and Rotorua (red) ??

 

[PhantomWolf]

And would you be able to pick up (for example) the Ghanaian flag out of a lineup of other African flags?

Not recognising a flag is not a crime. The problem here is that the NZ flag is harder to distinguish from the Australian flag, even when you know what the differences are. If you saw the two of them flying on two adjacent flagpoles, would you be able to reliably say that the Australian one is on the left and the NZ one is on the right?

I think that one of them should change. I don't mind which one. Preferably both.

If you know the differences then yes, they are quite obviously different, the big white star under the Union Jack, for example, and that the Aust stars are all 7-pointed and ours are five, or that they have 5 stars in the cross to our four, or the all white vs red with white borders.

I'd also point out that they copied ours.

 

[Information Analyst]

And would you be able to pick up (for example) the Ghanaian flag out of a lineup of other African flags?

Without even checking, it's the one with the black star in the middle, and Mozambique is the one with the Kalashnikov.

 

[arthwollipot]

If you know the differences then yes, they are quite obviously different, the big white star under the Union Jack, for example, and that the Aust stars are all 7-pointed and ours are five, or that they have 5 stars in the cross to our four, or the all white vs red with white borders.

I'd also point out that they copied ours.

And again, it's harder to distinguish when you're talking about actual cloth flags, flying in a not-very-stiff breeze from a flagpole.

You need to be able to see the stars clearly in order to distinguish their colours, which you can't always do with real flags.

 

[Noztradamus]

Originally Posted by PhantomWolf View Post
Why would a proper flag need a "New Zealand Symbol" on it anyways? I know that there is a lot of talk about Canada's flag, but aside from Canada, which other instantly recognisable flag on the plant has the county's plant, or animal as part of the flag?

Lebanon. It has a Lebanon Cedar in the middle.

Papua New Guinea: Bird of Paradise

 

[The Atheist]

Papua New Guinea: Bird of Paradise

Ha!

Good pick. Nobody has a bird.