Pay Our Interns “Experience”

This campaign was created based on the idea that unpaid internships harm individuals who cannot afford to work for free, typically racialized and low-income people. This creates an unfair system wherein only those who can afford to work for free get these internships. Pay Our Interns advocates for the rights of interns and lobbies government seeking change.

Because being paid in “experience” isn’t good enough.

Starting with OOH posters and billboards, the campaign will present how life works when you are paid in “experience.” Simple expenses become difficult to afford and the unpaid intern may be forced to make choices about what “luxuries” they continue to pay for.

The billboards will be positioned strategically close to fast food restaurants on highways, getting passersby to think about what they take for granted being able to afford because they have paying jobs. People paid in “experience” don’t get to stop for snacks.

An experiential component of the campaign will feature a money machine where people on the street can participate in trying to catch money flying around inside the box. What they don’t realize is that the money inside is a fake currency, called “Experience,” and has no real monetary value. Of course, the person got the experience they may have always wanted, trying to catch money in a money machine, but all they take away from it are the stories and the Experience.

Close ups of the posters explaining the exhibit, with a call to action asking for help with ending the injustice against interns.