How many of you have seen an advertisement in a magazine, on a billboard or watched a commercial on TV and found yourself thinking, Why cant I look like that? I wish I was as skinny as that girl or I wish I had a six-pack like that guy. Show of hands?The media, as we know it, can be very manipulative. The depiction of men and women often leaves us insecure of ourselves and makes us feel as if we are not enough, that we have to look a certain way in order to be perfect. But what is perfect?True enough, the definition of beauty has changed over the years and in turn, also changed societys perception of what makes a person beautiful. This sets upon a standard on all of us that we feel compelled to conform to, a standard that greatly influences our self-esteem and self-image.The 20th century has placed an utmost importance on physical appearance that several industries, such as cosmetics and fashion, thrived on. With this, the medium of advertising is born. While often presumed to have little cultural value, advertising is a powerful way in which attitudes towards men, women and beauty are reinforced that several companies exploited.In print media, a persons appearance is often manipulated in order to achieve a perfect look. This can be done through Photoshop. Photoshop is digitally altering an image through image-editing software. Like what you see here, Photoshop can be used to retouch, removing little imperfections, giving an airbrushed quality or completely alter the appearance of a person, like making them thinner, making their skin more vibrant or over enhancing their features.Companies often use photo manipulation as marketing ploys to attract customers. This is most common in beauty products and in weight loss products. This tactic makes their products more believable and makes people want to purchase them more. Well when this is the end result, who wouldnt want to buy them, right?However this portrayal of men and women by the media influences both self-esteem and self-image of an individual. Deepak Chopra, an author and speaker, says that your self-image is what other people think of you, and your Self (esteem) is what you think of you. Also, when we focus our confidence or esteem on external or changing circumstances, experiences or people, each are impermanent and inevitably change. Those external changes lead to a shifting or diminishing confidence and sense of self. Low self-esteem is a thinking disorder in which an individual views him/herself as inadequate, unlovable, and/or incompetent. Once formed, this negative view permeates every thought, producing faulty assumptions and ongoing self-defeating behavior. Having a low self-esteem causes the mental perception of what a person looks like to become distorted, leading them to engage in risk behaviors when they feel they dont measure up to the standard set upon them. 75% of girls with low self-esteem reported engaging in negative activities like cutting, bullying, smoking, drinking, or disordered eating.A survey found that a girls self-esteem is more strongly related to how she views her own body shape and body weight, than how much she actually weighs. In one study, 3 out of 4 women stated that they were overweight when only 1 out of 4 actually was. In another study, it was found that adolescent girls were more fearful of gaining weight than getting cancer, nuclear war or losing their parents.This kind of thinking is what led to a new trend that is again revolutionizing the definition of beauty. This is the celebration of having different body types and removing the idea of having a standard beauty, empowering men and women alike. Just last year, designer Eden Miller launched the first plus-sized show in the history of Fashion Week. Dove has also launched several campaigns and projects to empower women like the Self-esteem Project which aims to improve the self-esteem of more than 15 million girls and young women by 2015.Now, more and more people are starting to encourage accepting our differences and embracing our flaws. The media is also starting to revolutionize how women and men are represented. In the end, it doesnt matter if you are tall, short, pale, tan, blonde, brunette, if you have abs, if you are a size 2 or size 6. What matters is that you love yourself and feel comfortable in your own body. Each of us is perfect in our own ways. We are our own ideal image.