Virgil's Aenied Analysis

Virgil’s Aenied tells the tale of the struggle between Troy and the Greek city states as they fought for 10 years to no avail. The conflict eventually ended when the Greek’s had the furtive plan to trick the Trojan’s to accept a gift that led to their downfall. This idea of a Trojan horse has echoed throughout the ages and the stratagem is held to high esteem. Domtar’s advertisement that is featured in the September issue of National Geographic derives their marketing strategy from this very same idea. The advertisement features an African-American child (approximately six years old) who is lying on his stomach reading a book. The child looks very engaged in whatever he is reading and is featured in focus in the foreground. In the out-of-focus …show more content…
The basic argument that the advertisement makes is that learning something on paper is more effective than learning it online. The premises of the argument originate from a quote from a doctor that basically says that learning is best for kids without distraction. Now it is important to note that the ad does not explain who the doctor is. This is important because the ad reinforces the notion here that it is based on scientific fact and in turn is not simply trying to sell the reader something. The quote outlines that children learn best when they are focused on what they are doing. Given the context of the quote being in an ad for paper it is obvious that what is trying to be said is that trying to read something online can be distracting while learning the same thing on paper is easier and more effective. The reason why the internet would be more distracting is because there is so much to do online which would cause a child to lose focus and thus not retain what they are supposed to be learning. This idea is then complemented by the imagery of the advertisement. The focus of the ad is the child reading his book. The child is clearly engaged in his book and therefore is going to learn more (according to the quote at least) than the kid who read it electronically. The ad is trying to appeal to the parents out …show more content…
Domtar is one of the biggest paper producers in the world and the biggest in the U.S. at the moment. They make paper pulp (the substance that is made into paper) and paper itself. This is significant because that means that they do not sell to the general population, like one would usually see in a magazine ad, but they sell to large corporations. This explains the lack of a product being mentioned on the ad because the company is not selling to the readers. They are selling the idea that it is good to use paper in hopes of it raising profits for them in the long run. The website mentioned at the bottom of the ad is not for Domtar’s website but it is for an ad campaign that’s mission is to argue about the superiority of paper. Basically the website is a more in depth argument to what the ad tries to say in on page. When one does go to the website however, the first thing they will see is Domtar’s initiative to be eco-friendly and to preserve forests. This is a clever tactic to refute any potential arguments that a reader from National Geographic may make when they realize they are being sold on paper. Since National Geographic is largely concerned with environmental issues it is reasonable to think that the readers would be in favor of a digitizing world and might think paper is harmful. The website refutes