For hundreds of years, Florida has served as a sunny refugee for those looking for warm weather and a certain detachment from the conventional. Patriots, pirates, pariahs, and other unsavory types are all lured by the state’s swampy siren song, giving Florida a lawless and unruly eccentricity that suits these folks fine. That “hold my beer” spirit is sadly not reflected at all in Tampa’s official flag, and local creative agency Tack United has initiated a social media campaign for a better vexillological representation of the Floridian city.
City flags are notoriously bad, but Tampa’s banner breaks more flag design rules than San Francisco and Milwaukee. The flag is shaped like a pennant that a gator chomped the end off, with the city seal in the center (of course) and a dizzying array of horizontal and vertical stripes. In the middle, a set of yellow bars against red are reminiscent of the South Vietnamese flag, but Tampa’s design predates it. Blue bars with white stars meet towards the pole-side, and a red stripe gets placed along the edge, with several red chevrons moving across the white background. Oh, and there’s some green at the end, because why not?
Tack United has asked others to tag their redesigns with #fixyourflag, with suggestions so far having a very contemporary touch, featuring trendy colorways, minimal and abstract designs. The social media plea is part of Tack United co-owner Mark Anderson’s plan to change Tampa’s flag, which includes appealing directly to the mayor, who has unilateral control over it.