diff --git a/roles/badges-backend/tasks/main.yml b/roles/badges-backend/tasks/main.yml
index 722a288d31..7a55b40d90 100644
--- a/roles/badges-backend/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/badges-backend/tasks/main.yml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
   - restart fedmsg-hub
 
 - name: make badge definition directory
-  file: path=/usr/share/badges/rules owner=fedmsg group=fedmsg mode 0755 state=directory
+  file: path=/usr/share/badges/rules owner=fedmsg group=fedmsg mode=0755 state=directory
 
 - name: copy over all our badge definitions
   copy: src=badges/$item dest=/usr/share/badges/rules/$item