Consumers' Research
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Consumers' Research is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 1929 by Stuart Chase and F. J. Schlink after the success of their book '' Your Money's Worth: a study in the waste of the Consumer's Dollar'' galvanized interest in testing products on behalf of consumers. It published a monthly magazine called ''Consumers' Research Bulletin''. Leading staff from this organization, thwarted in their efforts to establish a
collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The ...
unit of a labor union, protested and left to form
Consumers Union A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...
in 1936. The magazine published by Consumers Union, initially ''Consumers Union Reports'' and now called '' Consumer Reports'', gained popularity and market share over the ''Bulletin'' and largely supplanted its relevance. Consumers' Research remained an educational organization whose mission is to increase the knowledge and understanding of issues, policies, products, and services of concern to consumers. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and works at the intersection of consumer issues and policy. It is described as a conservative group.


History

Consumers' Research published comparative test results on brand-name products and publicized
deceptive advertising False advertising is defined as the act of publishing, transmitting, or otherwise publicly circulating an advertisement containing a false claim, or statement, made intentionally (or recklessly) to promote the sale of property, goods, or servic ...
claims.


Founding

In 1927 Schlink and Chase, encouraged by the public response to the publishing of their book ''Your Money's Worth'', solicited financial, editorial, and technical support from patrons of other activist magazines to support the creation of an organization to offer consumers the unbiased services of "an economist, a scientist, an accountant, and goodness knows what more." Schlink founded this organization, Consumers' Research, and migrated the existing subscriber base of a
White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...
organization's ''Consumer's Club Commodity List'' to support the ''Consumers' Research Bulletin'' published by his new organization. This was a publication with the mission to "investigate, test and report reliably … hundreds of common commodities purchased." This magazine would "accept no money or compensation of any kind from manufacturers, dealers, advertising agencies or other commercial enterprises." In 1927 the circulation of the bulletin was 565; by 1932 there were 42,000 subscribers. In addition to the magazine the organization also published books, pamphlets, and reports. In 1933 Schlink and Arthur Kallet, a board member of Consumers' Research and former colleague of Schlink at the American Standards Association, published '' 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs''. The book was to become one of the best-selling books of the decade and the metaphor of consumers being
guinea pig The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus '' Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the ...
s exploited by commercial enterprises moved readers as an appropriate description of the public during the Depression. Consumers' Research moved in 1933 to
Washington, New Jersey Washington is a borough in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 6,461,Bowerstown in Washington Township, New Jersey. After the move Schlink began to take more control over the management of the organization and rapidly hired and fired many staff. When Schlink established Consumers’ Research he appointed his wife and close friends to compose the majority of seats on the board of directors, and staff noted that he held control of hiring, firing, and the organization's editorial and budget decisions. When the organization grew the staff began to question its mission.


Schlink's control and resulting protests

In 1927 at the start of publication ''Consumers' Research Bulletin'' discussed conceptual issues, but by 1934 ratings of products and guidance for purchases filled more than 75% of each issue. Around this time Chase left the organization to pursue other interests, and Schlink began to take more control over management. By 1935 Consumers’ Research had a staff of 50, used 200 consultants, and was sponsored by such respected and established journalists such as Alexander Crosby of ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...
'', Arthur Kellog of ''
The Survey Paul Underwood Kellogg (September 30, 1879 – November 1, 1958) was an American journalist and social reformer. He died at 79 in New York on November 1, 1958. Life He was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1879. After working as a journalist he mo ...
'', and George Soule of ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
''. Each of these also wrote in their own magazines about consumer activism. In the spring of 1935, the workers began to openly complain about management practices. In August 1935 many workers formed a chapter of the Technical, Editorial, and Office Assistant's Union. In response to this, Schlink fired John Heasty, the appointed president of the union, and the union organizers responded with a strike at Consumers Research. Schlink counter-responded to the strike by hiring strikebreakers and armed security and by filing legal grievances against protestors. The negative publicity this dispute attracted pleased Consumers' Research critics.


Kallet seeks a solution

The positions between Consumers' Research and the strikers became more entrenched and less reconcilable, and the strikers began to have more discussions about the working conditions of employees. Arthur Kallet emerged as a leader who proposed the creation of a new organization which would evaluate products and take into account the working conditions under which those products were created. The organization proposed would also engage in and promote boycotts, educational campaigns, and have alliances with other organizations, which were activities Consumers Research avoided. At the end of 1935, the protesters called for mediation.
Reinhold Niebuhr Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. Niebuhr was one of Ameri ...
, a religious philosopher, chaired an arbitration group which included the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
’s
Roger Nash Baldwin Roger Nash Baldwin (January 21, 1884 – August 26, 1981) was one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He served as executive director of the ACLU until 1950. Many of the ACLU's original landmark cases took place under ...
, the educator
George Counts George Sylvester Counts (December 9, 1889 – November 10, 1974) was an American educator and influential education theorist. An early proponent of the progressive education movement of John Dewey, Counts became its leading critic affiliated with ...
, and the socialist
Norman Thomas Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 – December 19, 1968) was an American Presbyterian minister who achieved fame as a socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America. Early years Thomas was the ...
. Schlink rejected this arbitration and the Consumers' Research board of directors accused the strikers of being
communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
. This organization,
Consumers Union A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...
, published its first magazine ''Consumers Union Reports'' in May 1936. The previous strike was very successful at drawing attention to the protesters and the magazine was founded with public attention and support. Within two years the circulation of this new magazine surpassed the subscriptions to ''Consumers' Research Bulletin'', which the organization continued to publish. As of 1987 it had less than 1% of the subscribers which Consumers Union's magazine had.


Accomplishments

From its New Jersey location, Consumers' Research continually organized petitions to
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
urging him to establish a federal Department of the Consumer. This department would organize all consumer protection agencies and have as goals the prevention of monopoly and prevention of fraud to consumers. Because of Consumers' Research, and women's groups, and home economics activists, there were a Consumer Advisory Board, a labor advisory committee, and a business advisory committee in the National Recovery Administration. In 1933 Roosevelt appointed
Mary Harriman Rumsey Mary Harriman Rumsey (November 17, 1881 – December 18, 1934) was the founder of The Junior League for the Promotion of Settlement Movements, later known as the Junior League of the City of New York of the Association of Junior Leagues Internati ...
to head the Consumer Advisory Board. Caroline F. Ware,
Paul Douglas Paul Howard Douglas (March 26, 1892 – September 24, 1976) was an American politician and Georgist economist. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Illinois for eighteen years, from 1949 to 1967. During his Senat ...
, Walton Hale Hamilton, and Dexter Keezer were other consumer representatives involved in this effort.


Legacy

Consumers' Research was a founding organization in the consumer protection movement. The establishment of Consumers Union, directly resulting from the staff dismissals and walkouts from Consumers' Research, was one of the major events influencing the consumer movement after
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Other important organizations formed in the same era were the New Deal programs aimed at promoting economic recovery after the Great Depression by increasing consumer representation in the market, with the Consumer Advisory Board within the National Recovery Administration and the Consumers' Counsel within the
United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
being notable among them.


Targeting "wokeness"

In 2021, Consumers' Research launched an ad campaign to combat " wokeness" in corporate America, targeting companies by name, including
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
,
Ticketmaster Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010, it merged with Live Nation under the name Live Nation Enter ...
,
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...
,
American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...
and
Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...
. In 2022, insurance company State Farm partnered with GenderCool, a group whose mission is to present positive stories about transgender and nonbinary youth, to support a program providing LGBTQ-themed children's books to teachers and libraries in Florida. Consumers' Research ran an advertising campaign calling State Farm "a creepy neighbor" and accusing the insurance company of targeting children with books about gender identity. After an online uproar, State Farm dropped its support of the GenderCool partnership.


References


Further reading

* * *


External links

*
An Inventory to the Records of Consumers' Research, Inc., 1910-1983. (MC 3)
Finding aid to the archival collection held by Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries. Includes a detailed history of Consumers' Research, a chronology of events, brief biographies of the major people involved, a description of the contents of the collection, and a container list. * {{authority control Consumer organizations in the United States Consumer magazines Organizations established in 1929