diff --git a/gga_init.py b/gga_init.py
index f9e01d61a26e349ff6908839408aeea8bcc4e23a..673df13b3e83a6540410ddcfebcf303031e6d36c 100755
--- a/gga_init.py
+++ b/gga_init.py
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ class DeploySpeciesStack(speciesData.SpeciesData):
         if "banner_path" in self.config.keys():
             if not config["banner_path"] == "" and os.path.isfile(os.path.abspath(config["banner_path"])):
                 banner_dest_path = os.path.join(self.species_dir, os.path.abspath("banner.png"))
-                if not os.path.samefile(os.path.abspath(config["banner_path"]),banner_dest_path):
+                if not os.path.isfile(banner_dest_path) or not os.path.samefile(os.path.abspath(config["banner_path"]),banner_dest_path):
                     os.symlink(os.path.abspath(self.config["banner_path"]), banner_dest_path)
                     logging.info("Custom banner added: symlink from %s" % self.config["banner_path"])
             else: