My Residency Experience – Grayling UK

As a journalism student at Northwestern University in Qatar, I was required to go on a student residency abroad. This was one of the best experiences of my life, because I was able to gain work experience from a top-notch PR firm, as well as immerse in four different fun departments - Internal Marketing, Corporate and Finance, Digital Media, Consumerism. Moreover, this experience helped me realize the importance of globalization to global firms and how the various tools of communication have helped make that happen.

First off, I was working with the internal marketing team. Our job was to make sure the firm, GRAYLING, was on track with its clients, and maintained a good image on the global and local scale. Grayling employs more than 1000 people around the globe. As an intern, I had to research the top players in Public Relations, and create an in-depth presentation comparing Grayling’s standard against theirs. In doing so, I had to study the social networks, web design, number of offices, client names and much more. My findings proved that each of the competing firms was trying to grow a larger global empire and gain top clients. In CAPITALISM, success comes from making more profit every year than the one before, and to do so the firms need to win more clients. Another interesting fact was that Grayling had several different versions of its website in different languages to reach the maximum number of people. This is a form of GLOCALIZATION, whereby a company is making itself more accessible and easy to use so that it can grow and reach more people. Although the headquarters are in the UK, the firm had established offices in many different regions including the USA, Australia, Ireland, Spain, Dubai and their latest addition, Doha. I got to sit in on meetings with BRITISH AIRWAYS members, brainstorm ideas with other departments, make phone calls to local agencies and had to present my findings to the department I worked at. The most interesting part of my stay was when I moved to their Soho office and worked with the digital team. They were working on a top-secret proposal on a project for HRH Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser. This was a dream for any intern. I was the perfect asset because, a) I was the only Arabic speakers, b) I grew up in QATAR and am a student at QATAR FOUNDATION. They extended my stay at the office an extra week to make sure I was there the entire time they worked on that project. There were several procedures we had to do including, monitor the Internet for any news, publicity or negative feedback of her. We had to translate some articles from Arabic to English. We measured her reach globally and compared it in different regions. We also found out how many times people search her name. Having an experienced Arabic-speaking team member made the process much faster, and allowed me to share general knowledge that is not usually available online. Our main goal was to make her a GLOBAL FIGURE, and increase her outreach as much as possible.

I witnessed the power of the internet and globalization at its fullest, because here I was in an office full of people who had never been to Qatar, working on a project that requires familiarity with the culture, history and current situation in Qatar. It was very exciting for me to see how quickly information could be gathered and understood. Also, it was scary that so much information was available with the click of a button! I don’t know if Grayling ended up working on this project, however when I returned to Qatar I was offered a summer internship with their local office here. By WORD OF MOUTH, the local team heard positive feedback about my internship and thought I would make a good addition to the team. PUBLIC RELATIONS is all about spreading the message, maintaining a positive image and monitoring feedback. Whether for the company itself, a client, or even an individual, communication methods play an important role in providing us with information. We need to be aware of where this information came from and who we share it with. Knowing that I was able to survive a three-month-internship with a high standard, demanding firm, I am now much more confident with myself and feel proud of my accomplishments!

Globalization and Cultural Hegemony

Music is probably one of the most effective sociological and communication tools. Depending on the kind of music, it could appeal to individuals of almost every age group, gender and ethnicity. With the advent of the Internet and other means of telecommunication, music can also be appealing across boundaries. In short, music is now subject to globalization and this has been the case for the past several decades.


I love hip-hop music and closely follow artists like Eminem, The Game, Tupac etc, and thanks to the globalization of music, I am able to enjoy the same music that people from other nations listen to. Cultural globalization involves some sort of cultural exchange between different geographies that directly results in these countries enjoying foreign goods. These goods may not be solely materialistic goods, it could also be non-materialistic goods like music or lifestyles for instance. This process can take varying forms and produce a multitude of outcomes. According to some sociologists, this expanding transnational cultural exchange will in turn be profitable to certain countries, and in most cases, the United States seems to be yielding the most out of this cultural globalization. In fact, it would be right to say that the United States has established, knowingly or unknowingly, a cultural hegemony through its various music genres.

From fast-food culture to listening to hip-hop music, I believe that I am a part of America’s cultural hegemony. Although I listen to several American music artists, it is not necessary that an American should listen to Indian music (I am from India, FYI). Therefore, we see that cultural flow is only one-way, from dominant culture to peripheral culture, but not the other way round. By using tools like the internet and various applications, people around the world can tune in to listen to any music you want. I recently happened to learn about an application called Spotify, through which we can get access to almost all the music in the world even in your cellphone. I believe applications like these contribute a lot to the phenomenon of globalization.

So, is cultural globalization a positive phenomenon? Or is it just too overwhelming to know that you have been culturally imperialized? Something for the readers to think about.

Ageism in the media

You need look no further than in the fashion and lifestyle magazines and on the TV to see that people of a certain age, especially women, are seriously under-represented. Ageism is showing itself in all of areas of global culture from films, music, advertising, fashion and even in the news. There is no denying that popular culture is rooted in youth and energy and that is reflected in all our media.

Alarmingly, advertising and films tend to promote images of older persons in a negative light – as helpless, bumbling, and forgetful – in a stereotype described jokingly as “senior moments”.

Many Hollywood actresses have drawn attention to the fact that once they have past 40, there are less and less roles for them in movies. Female newsreaders will more often than not be “put out to pasture” as they get older and begin to show signs of aging while their male counterparts continue in the industry despite greying hair and facial lines.

As a result of this, women have been pushed to resort to face and body enhancements to accommodate the relentless demand for all things young and youthful. The extent of this demand has resulted in girls as young as 12 and 13 advertising beauty, perfume and fashion products as representative of the “ideal woman” and one women “would most like to look like”. The media has continued to be a willing participant promoting these impossible ideals.