boolean error

I am getting this in the error log file:
ERROR: Bad boolean external representation
'<font >color=red><b>YES></b></font>'

The code that is generating the message is all within the php delimiters
(entire file) and appears several times as follows:

if($r1==0 || $r2==0) {
if($archived=='Y') {
$archived="<font color=red><b>YES</b></font>";
}
;;;

select wares.ware_id,wares.name,category.name,unit_size,
qty_per_shipping_unit,supplier.name,sku,
case when wares.archived='t' then '<font color=red><b>YES</b></font>'
else wares.archived end as archived,
trademark.name
from wares,category,wares_category,supplier_wares,supplier,trademark
where wares.ware_id=wares_category.ware_id and
category.category_id=wares_category.category_id and
wares.ware_id=supplier_wares.ware_id and
supplier_wares.supplier_id=supplier.supplier_id and
wares.trademark_id=trademark.trademark_id";
I do not understand what is wrong? (This apparently worked fine in the
original online web site.)
Does anyone understand this?
Philip Jourdan