Levi's 1999 Flat Eric Advert 3
Trailer
Synopsis
Two fugitives are cutting across California — one human, one an impassive yellow puppet — when a convenience store stop turns up their own wanted posters on the wall. Markers in hand, they deface the portraits to confuse the police, and the puppet, who never speaks but communicates with precise physicality, produces correction fluid to erase the crease lines from his companion's Sta-Prest trousers. They drive off into the techno beat without missing a step.
Context & Trivia
Flat Eric has a direct predecessor: an earlier Quentin Dupieux puppet named Stéphane — a similar figure but with fixed ears and hands. When Levi's built their Sta-Prest campaign around the character in March 1999, the name shifted to Eric for broader international reach, and the prefix 'Flat' traces back to a discarded concept in which a car would run over and flatten the puppet's head. The figure was built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop in the UK, designed by Janet Knechtel, and performed across all three commercials by puppeteer Drew Massey.
Each spot was shot over a combined three-day schedule at a cost of two to three million francs. Massey's choice to keep Flat Eric in near-total silence — the character speaks nothing; every beat is physical — proved to be the performance decision that defined him. Mr. Oizo's 'Flat Beat', used throughout the campaign, reached number one in March 1999, carrying the puppet's presence well beyond the advertising context it was made for.
Puppeteers
Drew Massey
Puppet design
Janet Knechtel
Direction
Quentin Dupieux
Cast
Philippe Petit
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