why does this turn blue when the if block runs?

graphics.cpp

TextureData Graphics::load_font_texture(const std::string & message, int  max_width, int max_height)
{
    SDL_Color color = {255,255,255,255};
    SDL_Surface * rendered_message = TTF_RenderText_Blended(Graphics::font, message.c_str(), color);
	if (rendered_message->w > max_width ||
		rendered_message->h > max_height) {
		const float horizontal_scaling = rendered_message->w / (float)max_width;
		const float vertical_scaling = rendered_message->h / (float)max_height;
		const float final_scaling = horizontal_scaling > vertical_scaling ? horizontal_scaling : vertical_scaling;
		SDL_Surface * scaled_surface = SDL_CreateRGBSurface(0, max_width / final_scaling, max_height / final_scaling,
        32, 0xff000000, 0x00ff0000, 0x0000ff00, 0x000000ff);
        auto blit_result = SDL_BlitScaled(rendered_message, nullptr, scaled_surface, nullptr);

        assert(blit_result == 0);

        SDL_FreeSurface(rendered_message);
        rendered_message = scaled_surface;
	}


    TextureData texture;
    texture.height = rendered_message->h;
    texture.width = rendered_message->w;


    ssize_t data_size = rendered_message->format->BytesPerPixel * rendered_message->w * rendered_message->h;
    texture.data.resize(data_size);
    memcpy(&texture.data[0], rendered_message->pixels, data_size);
    SDL_FreeSurface(rendered_message);
    return texture;
}