One Direction's poppies confuse fans watching X Factor Before the poppy ... One Direction performs in Germany. Why are they wearing red flowers? One Direction fans asked as the boy pop-band took to the stage for The X Factor UK on Sunday night. Theories criss-crossed the twittersphere. A misguided fashion statement, hypothesised one fan. Because it's the X Factor colours, suggested another. All the while, the general public and families of the war-dead sat with their head in their hands, pained that a symbol of Remembrance Day could be so badly misinterpreted on Simon Cowell's talent show. Remembrance Day is celebrated each year on November 11 in the UK, Australia and around the world to remember the moment that the guns of World War I fell silent. Its symbol is the Flanders poppy, a vivid red flower that first sprung from the devastated fields of Ypres and the Somme in France and Belgium after millions of soldiers had fallen victim to the ravages of war between 1914 and 1918. In Australia, poppies not only adorn the coats of ex service-men and women and the public, but also cascade down the honour roll of Australia's war memorial in Canberra. Here they commemorate the loss of 2.5 million years of Australian life due to World War I deaths in combat and in every conflict since then. In recent years, debate has emerged over the commercialisation of the poppy itself. British historian, Dr Ted Harrison maintains that the poppy has lost its authenticity. If you look at some of the popular programmes on television, there are B-list celebrities vying for attention by wearing the poppy. Politicians wear the poppy as a symbol of their own patriotic virility," Dr Ted Harrison told the Telegraph London in 2012. It gets worse: The commercialisation of Remembrance day didn't stop at the One Direction outfits. Enter the Tesco remembrance pizza.