The Singapore Navy Ad Recruiting Women Left Us Perplexed — Here’s Why

Due to our mandatory national service for Singaporean males, the term ‘Singaporean Son’ has become more recurrent in our speech than the expression “Singaporean Daughter”. However, check out this recruitment advertisement posted by the Republic of Singapore Navy in an effort to encourage more female citizens to join the Navy.

https://www.facebook.com/501718186559038/posts/3366535940077234/?app=fbl

At the end of each picture, the little caption reads, “Read the post in reverse for a different message”.

My first intuition is to read the individual image in this way.

Picture 1:

The text in reverse is ” weak too are women”.

Picture 2:

The text in reverse is “think never will I”.

Picture 3:

The text in reverse is “seas our defend to enough tough am I”.

Picture 4:

The text in reverse is “fact a it’s because”.

Picture 5:

The text in reverse is “profession this in thrive can’t women”.

Picture 6:

The text in reverse is “believe to hard it’s”.

Picture 7:

The text in reverse is “navy the for out cut am I”.

However, this is absolutely unsound; instead, the atypical ad is intended for us to read in reverse order in entirety—from right to left—rather than the text in each picture in silo. Thus, the message should sound like this.

I am cut out for the Navy.
It’s hard to believe
Women can’t thrive in this profession.
Because it’s a fact:
I am tough enough to defend our seas.
I will never think
Women are too weak.

So here’s to all the tough women of Singapore: consider joining the Singapore Navy for an unconventional career like no other.