Buyer Beware: The Consumers' Research Archives at the Rutgers University Libraries

Abstract

Today, consumer testing and rating guides are taken for granted. It is not unusual for a shopper to take a copy of Consumer Reports to a stereo or appliance store, or consult any number of specialized consumer publications before purchasing a particular product. Prior to 1927, there were no organizations dedicated to helping consumers choose between competing brands of products. Frederick J. Schlink, born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1891, pioneered the effort to research and disseminate unbiased product information to consumers. Trained as an engineer, Schlink had acquired extensive experience in the field of standardization at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, DC, and with the American Standards Association in New York City. He combined his interest in the standardization of products created for mass production, a disdain for bogus advertising claims, and a background in testing products to form the Consumers' Club in New York City in 1927. With the publication of his book Your Money s Worth (co-authored with Stuart Chase) in the same year, public sentiment was stirred to demand a consumer testing organization. This book exposed the excesses of advertising and the hazards of shoddy products, and called for independent product testing. The overwhelming response to the Your Money's Worth led to the publication of the first consumer rating bulletin entitled The Consumers ' Club Commodity List. The first issue of The List was published on October 27, 1927. In the introduction, Schlink explained that The List was the first step toward giving the small consumer access to critical information about everyday products. The format of the bulletin included two columns subdivided by various products. Products endorsed by The List were filed directly under a column "A" list; those commodities receiving a negative mark from the compilers were placed in the "B" list. No direct testing of