The three-month campaign, which included award-winning television and web site created by Michael Bolchalk Marketing, tripled the number of calls to victim advocacy centers. Officials at those centers say sexual assault is the most underreported crime in America, so encouraging victims to find help is paramount. They say one in five women and one in 33 men likely will be victims of sexual assault during their lifetime.

Shannon Trail, whose 13-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted two years ago, said it's important to give victims a place to turn for help.

"The bottom line is, let those people know where to go," Trail said. "Because they're so scared, and they shouldn't be alone."

Her daughter, like many victims, did not want to report the crime to the police. Advocacy centers offer a more comfortable environment.

Trail said she would like to see an advocate with each victim during the initial police interview, especially if the officer is a man.

"They were just destroyed by a guy, and now they are expected to tell intimate details to a guy alone in a room?" Trail asked, still astonished at the treatment her daughter received.

The $100,000 campaign urged victims to call an advocacy center. The program was run through the state Attorney General's Office and was funded as part of a special appropriation during the 2000 legislative session.

The commercials, in Spanish and English, ran on cable television stations and were aimed at young adults. That audience was targeted because most sexual assault victims are 18 or younger.

A hotline number for the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network was given. Calls to 1-800-656-HOPE were automatically routed to the nearest advocacy center.

The commercial campaign, with the slogan "You're not alone. It's not your fault. We believe you," won two Silver Citation of Excellence Award from the Tucson Advertising Federation.

From October through December 2001, when the commercials aired, 478 Arizona victims called the number. For the same months in 2000, with no commercials, 165 victims called.

Lisa Glow, chief counsel for the Office for Women in the state Attorney General's Office, said she isn't giving up on finding money to resume the campaign.

"I think we have a good chance of finding funding, especially now that we know how effective the campaign is and have numbers to back it up," Glow said.

"Public awareness is where we really need to start in preventing sexual assault and violence against women."

Teri Ingram, coordinator of the Sexual Assault Response Team for Victim/Witness Services in Flagstaff, said the public service campaign prompted several Northern Arizona University students to call the hotline.

"They knew there was a place where they could make a report and it would be taken seriously," Ingram said.

Ingram said victims who don't report an attack often suffer chronic health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I think that reporting (the assault) and getting referrals for care immediately, medical and psychiatric, will lower the later manifestations of those symptoms," Ingram said.

Since the commercials stopped airing, the number of calls to agencies around the state has dropped. But officials don't believe the number of assaults has decreased.

"Sexual assault obviously is underreported; we know that," said Mesa police Lt. Doug Kline, director of the Center Against Family Violence. He said part of the reason is that the aftermath of rape has been as traumatizing as the attack itself.

"It's only natural that the victim has a great deal of anxiety. They've been victimized once; they don't want to go through it again," Kline said.

He said law enforcement agencies have made "vast leaps forward" in how they treat victims.

Trail agrees that improvements have been made, but thinks there is much work still to be done.

"Attitudes have to change. This has to get easier for women and children," Trail said.

Trail will never forget the night she opened the door to her 13-year-old daughter and heard her say, "Mom, I've been raped."

"There's nothing I can do at this point about what happened to my family. I just want it fixed for the kids today. And tomorrow," Trail said.