Miss Sports Vietnam 2007 Tran Thi Quynh, representative of Vietnam at Mrs. World 2013 held in Guangzhou, China, has been criticized for wearing a ribbon with a typo in her country’s name.

At the final night of the pageant last weekend, Quynh wore a ribbon with the words “Mrs. Vietnem” in the swimsuit and evening gown rounds. After that, photos capturing Quynh with the misspelled ribbon were spread on the Internet, inciting outrage from Vietnamese citizens who expressed shock with Quynh’s carelessness. The error was made worse by the fact that during the finale, Quynh accidentally held a Vietnamese flag upside down.

“It’s unacceptable! Can’t she read? That’s embarassing!” reader Phuong stressed.

In response, CIAT, the company that sent Quynh to the contest, explained that the incident is the fault of the pageant’s organizers. According to CIAT, contestants were given two ribbons, one for sideline events and one for the rehearsal and the finale. The ribbon with the typo was given to Quynh just minutes before the rehearsal so she didn’t have time to notice the mistake. Other contestants also wore ribbons with embarassing misspellings, including the women representing Dominica and Ireland.

CIAT’s chairman Kim Hong, also a member of the contest’s jury, informed the public that Mrs. World chairman David Marmel gave his apology to the Vietnamese delegation.

On November 24, the Mrs. World 2013’s organizing board in China sent a letter of apology to the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, saying the misspelling was unexpected and they didn’t mean to insult anyone.

For her part, Tran Thi Quynh also sent a letter of apology to the culture ministry and the public, asking for forgiveness on her mistake.

“As a Vietnamese, I admitted that this was because of my carelessness. This is a lesson that will be with me for the rest of my life, a mistake that I will never make again,” Quynh wrote, expressing she was careless due to the dense schedule of the contest.

According to Vu Xuan Thanh, Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the contestant will not go unexamined, as it was she who was ultimately responsible for presenting a positive image of Vietnam to the world. Accidental or intentional, she made a mistake.

Nguyen Thanh Nhan, head of the Performing Art Department said that the department will consider the letters of apology from Tran Thi Quynh and Mrs. World 2013’s organizers to make final decision.

This year Mrs. World gathered 30 contestants from all over the globe. Vietnamese representative Tran Thi Quynh finished in the top 6 but didn’t win any prizes.