Consumers Research

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Consumers' Research is a non-profit organization established in 1929 by Stuart Chase (1888-1985) and F.J. Schlink (1891-1995), 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 publishes a magazine of the same name.

Consumers' Research published comparative statistics on brand-name products and publicized deceptive advertising claims.^[1] F. J. Schlink published a book with Arthur Kallet entitled 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs,^[2] which helped popularized the use of the word "guinea pig" as a subject of experimentation, and which became a national bestseller as concerns over the potentially adverse effects of commercial products increased.^[3]

In 1936, Arthur Kallet and others seeking a more aggressive stance broke with Consumers' Research to found Consumers Union and its magazine Consumer Reports.

Consumers' Union grew strongly, while Consumers' Research languished. Its magazine increasingly took an anti-communist stance, and is today closely aligned with conservative politics. It has been accused of publishing favorable reports about the tobacco industry funded by that industry.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] External links

• Text of Your Money's Worth,at Library of Congress website
• Sourcewatch view of the organisation, and contact details

[edit] References

1. ^ McGovern, Charles (2004), "Consumption", in Whitfield, Stephen J., A Companion to 20th-Century America, Blackwell, at 346, ISBN 0-631-21100-4
2. ^ Kallet, Arthur (1933). 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs:Dangers in Everyday Foods, Drugs, and Cosmetics. Vanguard Press. ISBN 978-0405080258. 
3. ^ McGovern, Charles (2004), "Consumption", in Whitfield, Stephen J., A Companion to 20th-Century America, Blackwell, at 346, ISBN 0-631-21100-4