Seen and Not Heard

As workforces become increasingly diverse, a new problem employees must face is ageism. I am an intern with the mindset of an exec. So many people focus on 'you have to pay your dues,' but if in the same breath you acknowledge that a good idea can come from anywhere, then paying dues is an antiquated notion.

This week I have been invited by my supervisor to watch him produce a college recruitment video for P&G. I thought, 'Cool, I'm a college senior, I go to presentations like this all the time; I'm the target demographic!' Do you think any of the "creatives" in the room even considered that for a moment?

For example, at one point they had to pick the song to be background music in the video. They had an old-school Stevie song and an upbeat tune. Guess which one they chose? While the video's images were moving fast, they picked a slow song to accompany it, which looked off to me. They also had a million images of Rihanna and Queen Laifah in this little 2:30 spot. I wanted to tell them, 'Hey, if you sit me and my friends in an auditorium and play this video we will fall asleep!' ...But no one wanted to know what I thought, and as an intern in a room of professionals, I was unsure if I would have been stepping out of my place to say it - esp if I had a dissenting opinion.

You can't teach good instincts, and I know I'm still in school, but I am so sure my instincts and judgment are right on many things media-related. Tell me why I should take a backseat when I already understand things execs worked 20 years to get? I don't propose to know everything, and areas such as office politics are things you must learn through experience. But this whole being seen and not heard, speaking when spoken to thing is not for me....It's not that I think I'm too good, I just know what I have to offer.