To test the proposition that television content can teach sex-typed behaviors and attitudes, this study presented children of two ages (third grade and eighth grade) with one of two sets of television commercials. The first set contained women engaged in nontraditional occupations outside the home. The second set showed traditional women in their roles as housewives and mothers. The children's perceptions of the reality of the commercials were altered with instructions that the characters in the commercials were all real people (reality-set), that they were all acting (acting set), or that the commercials were just like ones always shown on television (no instructions). A control group that was not exposed to stimuli was included. Analysis of variance found that children's perceptions of reality were successfully manipulated with the instructions; younger children thought all content was more real; and the two sets of commercials had a significant differential impact on the attitudes of children about women only for groups that had been instructed about the reality of the actors. It was concluded that, in general, television can be a relevant source of information for sex-role socialization. (Author/TS)