Content analysis was used to study the values evident in televised beer and wine commercials. Seventy-seven prime time commercials, 7.6% of a week's total, were analyzed along value dimensions adapted from Gallup's measure of popular social values. The intensity of each value was coded on a five-point scale. None of the commercials in the beer and wine category presented refutations of any of the 19 value dimensions in the Gallup measure, while 13 of the measured value dimensions were affirmed in the commercials. Having a sense of accomplishment and lasting contribution was the dimension rated highest by the Gallup respondents, and the value affirmed most often in the commercials. However, there was no relation between the rank order of values appearing most in the commercials and those rated most important by Gallup's respondents. The five dimensions not treated in the commercials tended to relate to religion, personal freedom, and strict morality. While some of the reasons for the absence of these dimensions may have to do with the type of product examined in the study, it does not seem likely that many commercials would attend to these value dimensions since commercials tend to affirm those values instrumental to a consumer society. However, since the values that commercials do emphasize are of considerable importance to the population, it is difficult to find support for the critics' position that advertising subverts traditional American values. (HTH)