A study examined the effects of media advertising on the elderly to determine whether they use the media to help combat social disengagement, whether they perceived the elderly as positively portrayed in advertising, whether they perceive their role as consumer as declining, whether television advertising reinforced sex roles, and whether the ability to filter out puffery in advertising was negatively related with age. The sample consisted of 317 noninstitutionalized persons, over 55 years of age, who completed a self-administered questionnaire. The results indicated a positive correlation between reliance on mass media advertising for consumer information and age. There was a negative correlation between the elderly's perception of old people and exposure to advertising, suggesting that the elderly are negatively stereotyped in advertising. In addition, advertising exposure was significantly correlated with traditional sex role perceptions. The elderly's perception of consumer role was negatively related to age. Finally, the results indicated that the ability to differentiate between factual claims and evaluative claims diminished with age. (HTH)