Marie Claire causes uproar with internship daily pay barely covering price of the magazine

South African social media has reacted strongly to an advert posted by Marie Claire magazine for an internship that only offers R30 (£1.27, $1.79) a day. Twitter users in the country were shocked at the advert with some accusing Marie Claire of "only looking for rich people".

The advert posted asked for an intern to work at their Cape Town offices full time for six months - the hours posted are 8:30am to 5pm. The advert says the internship would include "the pitching, researching and writing of posts for the Marie Claire website" as well as "print components".

The chosen candidate will receive "a small daily stipend of about R30 / day", according to the listing. Marie Claire retails in South Africa for R29.90.

One Twitter user accused Marie Claire of "only looking for a rich people who don't need any money but they are tired of doing nothing", with others saying they will no longer buy the magazine after finding out about the advert.

Another user said that people only wanted Marie Claire to pay interns "something they can actually live on".

Marie Claire issued a statement thanking people on social media for "bringing this important discussion to us" while defending their internship programme as providing "valuable training".

"Our internship programme provides valuable training in magazine and digital publishing. We empower participants through mentoring from industry heavyweights, helping them to build a portfolio of work and content, and facilitating crucial relationships within the industry."

"While the benefits of interning are many, we are in the process of reviewing our internship programme. We will discuss this with key stakeholders in the business and make changes. We will be transparent about the outcome once a decision has been made."