Public information campaigns have become a staple of contemporary crime prevention efforts. While formal research on such campaigns has been limited, some important lessons may be learned from evaluation of the national "Take a Bite Out of Crime" or "McGruff" crime prevention campaign initiated in 1979. A large-scale formal survey evaluation indicated that McGruff seems to have had some success in promoting various aspects of crime prevention competence among a fairly wide range of citizens. A national survey of 759 crime prevention practitioners revealed that the McGruff campaign has served as a centerpiece for a host of allied preventive efforts at local, statewide, and national levels. A survey of 53 television station public service managers indicated considerable receptivity to the McGruff public service announcements. McGruff's effectiveness may be tied in part to the use of formative research in its design, and to the integration of interpersonal and community-level support with the media components. Subsequent campaigns would do well to pay more attention to the use of theoretical models of communication and persuasion in their design, and should include a more detailed examination of characteristics of audiences. Continuing, systematic evaluation should address the role of news media in campaign dissemination, and examine why some techniques work while others don't. (Forty-four references are attached.) (SR)