A television program employing a visual metaphor should be an effective instructional tool. Concrete imagery should make the metaphor more memorable and the topic more comprehensible. Splitting the metaphor between audio and video channels should make a strongly unified message, because the audience would have to compare the verbal and visual messages to understand the metaphor. Two versions of an informational television program were created for this study. The documentaries have identical off-camera narration about health care costs and reform in the audio. The traditional-visuals version uses images typical of education or news programs, but the visual-metaphor version uses images in a different way. The major physical metaphor underlying the abstract concepts of health insurance and the payment of health care costs is "a covering that protects against unpleasant or harmful sensations." The visual metaphor version of the program includes many different images of people needing or using physical coverings for protection. Subjects were 79 college freshmen who saw one of the two forms and responded to a Likert-type scale of opinions about the videos. No significant differences in attitude were found for the two groups of subjects. These viewers appeared to accept the visual metaphor as no different from other television production techniques, with no detrimental effects on attitude or comprehension. (Contains 47 references.) (SLD)