To document the effects of television public service announcements (PSAs) in a community setting, a public service campaign was designed and implemented to stimulate awareness of and behavioral response to problems of hypertension among urban Mexican Americans in Houston. Three pretested Spanish language PSAs were designed to motivate the audience to call for additional information about the control of hypertension. The PSAs were aired 224 times over 6 weeks on all local television stations during daytime and prime time viewing periods. A three-phase evaluation of the effectiveness of the PSAs consisted of telephone surveys of adults in randomly selected Mexican American households. Over one-third of the 499 surveyed adults reported awareness of the PSAs. Also, a significantly greater percentage of the group exposed to the PSAs reported subsequently dicussing their blood pressure with their physician, family, or friends; 16.5% reported having a blood presure checkup. The 101 viewers who called for more information were more likely to have less education, have lower incomes, and be female. Results indicated that a Spanish language PSA campaign can reach a large segment of the Mexican American population and can motivate them to take action. (SB)