Introduction In American culture, great emphasis is placed on the body and appearance. As a result, many studies have been conducted to investigate the effects of media on individuals of both genders. From personal experience, the media has the greatest impact on teenagers and college students as these are the prime years for individuals of both genders to situate themselves with society's expectations. One of the many ways people keep up with the latest trends is by consuming large amounts of media, such as reading fashion magazines or watching television programs. Today, both men and women are faced with unrealistic expectations every time they open a fashion magazine. Our society promotes an unrealistic image of beauty that is virtually impossible for the majority of the population to achieve. However, the reality is that most magazines airbrush images to "perfect" their models. Unfortunately, this unattainable body image has contributed to low self-esteem, negative body image, and the development of destructive eating disorders in both genders. According to Bell and Dittmar (2011), this negative body image is the result of environmental pressures to conform to a culturally defined body and ideal of beauty. This research will focus on the effects of a specific type of media, magazines related to fashion, celebrity news and lifestyle, on both women and men. We will measure the amount of exposure individuals have to the thin ideal image as well as the degree of their body satisfaction. Research Method The unit of analysis for this study will be students currently enrolled at CSU Northridge. My research team and I will contact the Institutional Research Offices of the un...... middle of paper ...... a computer science consultant will create an online survey to send to our random sample of students. The university will then send 1,750 email surveys to selected students. April-May: After receiving completed surveys, we will collect data and limit respondents to the first 1,500 acceptable respondents. We will also send them the promised gift vouchers for their participation. The research team will analyze the data.June: After analyzing the data, we will write the final report summarizing the findings.Costs of the study• Specialist IT consultant required to create the online survey to be emailed to the pool of respondents selected by a simple random sample: $5,000 • Cost of gift cards that will be sent to 1,500 respondents ($10 each x 1,500 respondents) - $15,000 • Total cost: $20,000