Three-yeax study shows more women experts selling products for women but still backed up b y the "known quantity" of an authoritative male uoice-over.This study concerns the attribution of expertise to the women who appear in TV commercials and the roles they portray. An analysis of how women are represented in TV commercials is important for several reasons. It has been contended that TV commercials promulgate sex-role stereotypes and insult and exploit women. Negative images of women in commercials may be potent sources of sex-role socialization for children, as studies of viewing practices suggest that the average child watches over 200 commercials a week (10). Finally, given the frequent public discussion of sexism in TV commercials since at least 1970, it is important to know whether protests have had any effect on advertising policies.Previous studies of TV commercials have yielded evidence of sex bias in the portrayal of women in occupational roles and in the role of product expert. The latter bias is in evidence both on the screen and also in the message voiced-over the commercial tract. Hennessee and Nicholson (6), describing an analysis of 1241 commercials done by the New York City chapter of NOW in 1970-1971, reported that 37.5 percent of women in commercials were portrayed as "domestic adjuncts of men" and only three women in 1000 were portrayed as "autonomous people leading independent lives." The study also reported that com-

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