your mileage may vary

Via the forever fabulous Everlasting Blört comes this delightful promotional film from the American Petroleum Institute that illustrates the virtues of fuel-efficiency and ethical resource management through the conformist practises of the Martians in thrall to the great and powerful Ogg who pay the primitive Earthlings a visit, who despite their superior technology, don’t have infrastructure and public institutions worked out too well. This animated short by character designer Tom Oreb is from 1956 and for the time really highlights our ability to harness energy and develop new industries but it also demonstrates that we’ve all but stopped progressing, insofar as we’re still reliant on oil.