CONSUMER REPORTS
Since 1936, Consumer Reports has tried to give consumers
unbiased assessments of the products they buy. Unlike most
media operations, Consumer Reports accepts no advertising in an effort to ensure its objectivity. No free product samples are accepted from manufacturers. Consumer
Reports does not allow its reviews to be used for the sale of
products. In fact, the magazine aggressively works to prevent advertisers from using positive Consumers Reports’
assessments as a blurbs or endorsements.
Consumer Reports’ mission is to “test, inform and protect.” The magazine and its popular web site ConsumerReports.org are published by Consumers Union, a nonprofit
organization based in Yonkers, New York, that works to
create a fair and safe marketplace for all consumers. Its
precursor organization was known as Consumer Research,
whose leaders included engineers Arthur Kallet and Frederick Schlink.
In 1926, Schlink organized a consumers club in White
Plains, New York. It distributed a mimeographed list of
approved products as well as a list of products to avoid
because they were of inferior quality or had made false
advertising claims. In 1928, he helped found Consumers
Research, which published the Consumers Research Bulletin. Borrowing the commercial model of a respected engineering journal, it accepted no advertising. In 1933, Schlink
and Kallet published a book entitled 100,000,000 Guinea
Pigs: Dangers in Everyday Foods, Drugs and Cosmetics.
The book warned consumers of the dangers they faced in a
largely unregulated marketplace.
But Consumers’ Research was beset by labor problems
in 1935. Several employees formed a labor union and were
promptly fired by Schlink. Forty employees of Consumers
Research went on strike. Schlink refused to negotiate with
them.
In 1936, the striking workers started their own organization known as Consumers Union, and Kallet was appointed
director. Initially, its publication was called Consumers
Union Reports. The focus was on inexpensive consumer
products such as milk, stockings or fans because the organization could not afford to buy and test more expensive products. The publication’s circulation was about four thousand.
But the magazine was able to rate automobiles in its
early days thanks to the generosity of Lawrence Crooks,
a wealthy man with a passion for cars. He bought the cars
himself or borrowed cars from his friends for testing purposes. Crooks headed up the Consumers Union auto testing
division until 1966.
In 1942, Consumers Union changed the name of its
magazine to Consumer Reports to underscore the fact that
it serves not just union members but all consumers in the
United States. Its circulation rapidly increased in the years
after World War II as consumer products returned to the
shelves because years of war-time rationing. Circulation
was four hundred thousand in 1950, a four-fold increase
from 1942. The magazine’s circulation by 2005 was about
four million, making it one of the nation’s largest-circulated
magazines.
Consumer Reports is the flagship of a small media
empire. In addition to the magazine and the subscriptionbased website, there’s a health newsletter and related website, the CR Money Adviser Newsletter, television and radio
programs, auto price services and the New Car Buying Kit.
There is even a web site aimed at children called ConsumerReports.org 4 Kids. The overall organization employs
more than 450 people.
Consumers Union operates the world’s largest nonprofit
educational and consumer product testing facility at its
National Testing and Research Center in Yonkers. At the
center, autos, appliances, electronics, foods, baby and child,
health and family, and recreation and home improvement
products are tested. The magazine also gathers marketplace
intelligence by way of reader surveys and through more
than 150 anonymous shoppers.
Consumers Union goes to bat for consumers on such
issues as food safety, financial services, product safety and
health issues through its three advocacy offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Austin, Texas. Specialists
testify before state and federal legislative and regulatory
organizations.
The magazine has been highly decorated over the years
for its service and investigative journalism. Consumer
Reports has won many prestigious journalism awards,
including the National Magazine Award, the Pulitzer Prize
of magazine journalism. It won its first of three National
Magazine Awards in 1974 with a three-part series that
examined the contamination of the U.S. water supply.
Along the way, Consumers Union and its Consumer
Reports have ruffled many feathers for its no-holds-barred
reporting and testing. In 1939, an article in Readers Digest
attacked Consumers Union for damaging the U.S. economy.
Good Housekeeping accused the organization of exacerbating the economic depression. Consumers Union was even
placed on the list of subversive organizations by the House
Un-American Activities Committee during the height of
the McCarthy Era in the 1950s.
Some corporations have been upset by candid analyses
of its products in the pages of Consumer Reports. The organization has been sued for product disparagement fifteen
times during its existence, although Consumers Union has
prevailed in all cases. For example, automaker Suzuki sued
after the magazine found that the Suzuki Samurai rattled
and turned over easily in turns. After eight years of litigation, Suzuki settled. No money was awarded to Suzuki,
although there was a clarification and an acknowledgment by Consumer Reports that Suzuki was committed to
safety.
In 2004, the magazine prevailed in a lawsuit brought by
Sharper Image, which charged that published test results of
its top-selling air purifier unfairly disparaged the product.
A judge ruled that the retailer had to reimburse the magazine for its attorney’s fees. The magazine estimated it spent
more than $500,000 defending itself. Consumers Union
President James Guest said dismissal of the Sharper Image
suit sent a clear message that there’s a steep price to be paid
when corporations unfairly attempt to stifle criticism.
Undaunted by the lawsuits and criticism, the magazine
remains committed to its mission of looking out for the
consumers’ interests. It will continue to warn consumers
of potentially dangerous products marketed by manufacturers and to alert them to false advertising claims. The
magazine’s stock in trade is its impartial reporting and its
unwavering commitment to independence.
Further Reading
Anonymous. “It’s Our Anniversary.” Consumer Reports, January
1996: 10–13.
Harvey, Mary. “Consumers Union of United States.” Magazine
Management 29, no. 5 (April 15, 2000): 60.
Kallet, Arthur, and F. J. Schlink. 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs: Dangers in Everyday Foods, Drugs, and Cosmetics. New York:
Vanguard Press, 1933.
Edmund Lawler