Mystery surrounds the appearance of a giant Lego man found on Brighton beach.

Walkers and other onlookers were startled to see the strange figure which appeared on the beach near the West Pier yesterday morning.

A marketing firm emailed pictures of the man to The Argus claiming it had been “washed up” on the beach.

A bit of detective work by an Argus reporter quickly linked the stunt to a Dutch art movement specialising in murals and installations.

Even so, the sight of the 6ft plastic man certainly caused a stir.

Gerry Turner, 34, who was walking his dog on the beach, said: “I don’t have a clue what it’s all about but it certainly looked eye-catching.” Pete McNiven, from Brighton firm Kerb, which describes itself as a “digital marketing agency”, sent out pictures of the Lego man.

The firm specialises in marketing campaigns using the internet to gain publicity.

However, Kerb’s website does not list the Dutch art movement as one of its clients. Mr McNiven said in his email: “Not sure if it’s washed off from somewhere or a sociopolitical statement on the apathy of modern day.”

Pictures of it have also appeared in Holland.

The wording on the man’s front says, “No real than you are” which, according to Google, is linked to a Dutch website called Egoleonard.nl.

The site is registered to, and maintained by, the Dutch art collective group, Du Fois.

Brighton and Hove City Council said it had no problem with the Lego man being put on the beach.

A spokesman said: “Usually we like people who are planning an event to contact us to let us know because there could be issues arising out of them.

“But in this case there’s no problem at all. It will be interesting to see how long the Lego man stays there for. We’ll keep an eye on it, I’m sure.”