Destination Earth is a 1956 propaganda Sci-Fi cartoon created by John Sutherland and sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, still the biggest lobby for the U.S. oil and gas industry. It explains the fundamentals of the petroleum industry and how petroleum products enrich everyday life in the United States of America, as well as the benefits of a free market economy.

The cartoon was produced in the middle of the Cold War. Not surprisingly, it features a fine blend of anti-communist and pro-capitalist sentiment. The cartoon follows the adventures of "Colonel Cosmic," a Martian space traveler, as he learns that oil and competition are the two things that make America great.

The cartoon compares the Earth-style free enterprise economics to a stagnating Mars under the fist of a certain “Mr. Ogg,” a dictator who centrally controls the Martian economy. Mars, the "red" planet, looks a lot like the Soviet Union and Ogg, the totalitarian leader who puts his name on everything and forces the Martians to applaud for him, looks like Stalin with large moustache. Colonel Cosmic, who flies from Mars to Earth, is actually on an intelligence mission. He finds that the lack of government regimentation and control is what makes the American system flourish. Colonel Cosmic goes back to Mars and initiates a revolution, overthrowing the Ogg government. Soon, lots of small businesses and wildcat oil drillers are in business and Mars is starting to look like Earth.

Destination Earth avoids coming off as too doctrinaire or propagandistic through its self-deprecating humor (a trademark of John Sutherland films), but it's still an insidious, self-serving piece of corporate propaganda. It takes the ideas expressed in films like Make Mine Freedom and takes them one step further, showing free-enterprise ideology not simply as a defense against socialism but as a means of subverting other societies.

Storyline:
Ogg, the supreme dictatorial leader of Mars, holds a special rally to celebrate the exploits of Mars' first space explorer Colonel Cosmic, who has just returned from a trip to Earth. That trip was initiated by Ogg to overcome the problems of Ogg's own explosive-powered state limousine, by finding out how state limousines on other plants operated. By chance, Cosmic landed in the United States. He ventured into a nearby big city where he found that all Americans could move quickly and efficiently by gasoline powered automobiles. Despite the difficulty of finding and getting the raw resource of petroleum out of the ground, petroleum and distributing it to the masses is the panacea for many of the problems that Americans may have faced otherwise, not only as that efficient fuel source, but also for the manufacture of many other transportation and non-transportation related products. Cosmic also found another important component – capitalist spirit of competition – in making America the most prosperous nation on Earth, which, if adopted on Mars, could overthrow Ogg's dictatorship. The Martian triumphantly returned to Mars with stolen library books on the oil industry. After reading from them the population of Mars deserts Ogg and sets up their own oil companies. The short ends with the slogan "destination unlimited" written across the screen.


HISTORICAL BACKGROUND / CONTEXT

The Cold War (1947-1991) was in many respects a struggle for the hearts and minds of people everywhere. That competition was carried out through massive American and Soviet propaganda campaigns to isolate the respective opponent internationally, win the approval of world opinion, and consolidate the own sphere of influence. Every opportunity from art exhibits to international sports events, and every medium from radio to television, was used to fight the propaganda war.

Television and advertising played key roles in constructing the image of an ideal American way of life. American propaganda functioned to shore up support and national pride by projecting an image of prosperity, freedom and strength. In many ways, however, these images were fantasy. They contrasted and conflicted with many American's real life.



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