Beer commercials typically use women who are not fully clothed to sell their products. When gym equipment is advertised, men are shirtless and muscular to sell the products (Barlett, Vowels & Saucer, 2008). Such representations of body image are considered ideal to the extent that the media portrays these ideals in media such as television advertisements and magazines. The media often succeeds in negatively influencing self-image because people constantly engage in some form of comparison behavior. Compare your own body to that of the images viewed. Regarding how individuals evaluate their body image, such a comparison can be made in two ways: through upward or downward comparison (Barlett, Vowels & Saucer, 2008). Upward comparison occurs when a comparison is made with a person from a higher status group and downward comparison occurs when a comparison is made with a person from a lower status group (Parker, Hayrko, and Hermans, 2008). An upward comparison leads to negative results. Men generally engage in upward comparison trends. This has consequences such as dieting to gain weight, using steroids to gain muscle mass (Parker, Hayrko & Hermans, 2008). South African