Based on the associational nature of memory, the distinction between episodic and semantic memory, and the notion of memory strength, a model was developed of the role of emotion in the memory of television commercials. The model generated the following hypotheses: (1) emotional commercials will more likely be recalled than nonemotional commercials; (2) the stronger the emotion experienced by the viewer, the more likely the recall; and (3) types of details remembered will differ for emotional and nonemotional commercials. To test these hypotheses, 20 commercials were categorized as depicting neutral, postive, negative, or poignant (positive and negative) emotions. Sixty-five college students viewed the comercials, and continually registered their feelings on a dial ranging from 100 (very positive) through 50 (neutral) to 0 (very negative). After viewing the 20 commercials, subjects were asked to write down as much as they could remember about each commercial. The results indicated that there are differences in the memory strength of episodic traces for emotional and nonemotional commercial messages and even differences reflecting the relative intensity of emotional response. In addition, some semantic processing (for example, judgment and evaluation) was shown to be affected by the emotionally enhanced episodic trace. (HTH)