History

Consumers’ Research was founded in 1929 with the mission to educate and protect consumers from harmful products.

Fredrick J. Schlink, the founder of Consumers’ Research, started the organization with the intent to answer the question “Who – or what – best serves the consumer?” during a time when there were little to no consumer protection laws or oversight.

Consumers’ Research quickly became a top resource for consumer advocacy and product testing. Today, these values still hold true, as Consumers’ Research has evolved from a product-focused organization to a broader consumer advocacy organization – focused on educating consumers on the policies, products and services of concern to them and to promote the freedom to act on that knowledge and understanding.

Establishment

1928

Consumers’ Research founder Frederick J. Schlink published the first Consumers’ Club Bulletin

1929

Consumers’ Research incorporated in New York

1933

Arthur Kallet and Frederick J. Schlink published the consumer defense book 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs

1933

Consumers’ Research consumer product testing lab opened

1935

Consumers’ Research Bulletin is first published

1973

Consumers’ Research Magazine published

Evolution

1981

Consumers’ Research sold to M. Stanton Evans and moved to Washington, D.C.

1983

Consumers’ Research shut down the consumer product testing lab and shifted focus to the Consumers’ Research Magazine

1994

M. Stanton Evans published articles critical of the federal healthcare policies known as HillaryCare, showcasing Consumers’ Research move from strictly product analysis to consumer impacts from government programs, laws, and regulation

1996

M. Stanton Evans published an essay in the Consumers’ Research Bulletin, about federal regulations in relation to gas prices and the impacts it has on the industry’s ability to adapt for the consumer

2000

Consumers’ Research began an extensive examination on the half-measure deregulation of the airline industry, concluding the biggest problem for consumers is the limited competition which allowed little incentive for the industry to focus on consumer satisfaction

2001

Consumers’ Research analyzed the effects of government intervention in telecommunications access, concluding government intervention has not improved services for the consumer

Today

2020

Will Hild became Consumers’ Research executive director

2021

Consumers First Initiative launched, putting corporations on notice that they need to start serving their customers, not woke politicians