Flat Eric

The advertising campaign for Levi’s ‘Sta-prest’ is actually more remembered than the product. Featuring the character of Flat Eric, it was an unexpected departure for Levi’s and proved to be hugely successful (Saunders, 1999: 91). Creative director Caroline Klein had a strong vision for Levi’s. Klein was a young fresh talent and supported new film makers. She saw potential in a short film by Quentin D’ipeux. He had bought a puppet from a flea market in Paris, a yellow monkey from which he removed the ears, giving it a flat head, hence the name Flat Eric. Posters were launched with the caption ‘Have you seen Flat Eric?’ and ‘Wanted’ posters (a tongue-in-cheek version of the style of Western ‘wanted’ posters) were put up at music festivals such Glastonbury. It was made deliberately easy for people to steal the posters (Stephanie Wilson Interview), which they did in large numbers! The Sta-Prest Levi’s product is not one of the company’s most successful products but the ‘Flat Eric’ campaign achieved every success that a campaign could aspire to. With the signature theme tune going to number one in the British charts and Flat Eric achieving cult status, the campaign was far more memorable than the Sta-prest jeans