Frederick J. Schlink

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Frederick J. Schlink (October 26, 1891 – January 15, 1995) was an American

consumer rights activist. He co-wrote the book 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs with Arthur Kallet, and co-founded the watchdog
group Consumers' Research.[1]

Life and activism

Schlink was born in

American Standards Association.[2]

In 1927, Schlink was co-author, with Stuart Chase, of the bestseller, Your Money's Worth, a warning about sales pressure and misleading advertising. The book called attention to the "Consumers' Club", a small organization in White Plains, New York. Within two years, the club had members nationwide and was incorporated as Consumers' Research. Arthur Kallet, the secretary of the group, enlisted Schlink's aid as co-author of One Hundred Million Guinea Pigs in 1933.[3] (The title referred to what was roughly the population of the United States at the time.) The book caused a stir, noting that some well-advertised products (including mouthwash and hair dyes) were sometimes useless and even dangerous. In 1934, he published a pamphlet with his wife, Mary Catherine Phillips, Discovering Consumers.[4] His final book was Eat, Drink and be Wary in 1935.[5] Schlink himself lived for sixty years after the book's publication and died at the age of 103.

Consumers' Research

Schlink was instrumental in moving Consumers' Research to

Consumers Union, which began publishing its own magazine, Consumers Union Reports, in direct competition to Schlink's Consumers' Research Bulletin. This magazine soon surpassed the Bulletin in circulation, and, renamed Consumer Reports, became and remains the leading North American consumer magazine.[6]

References

  1. ^ Laurence B. Glickman, Buying power: a history of consumer activism in America. University of Chicago Press, 2009, (p. 195).
  2. ^ Current Biography 1941, pp 756-58
  3. ^ Id. at p757
  4. ^ Phillips, Mary Catherine (1934). Discovering Consumers. New York: John Day.
  5. ^ Id. at 758
  6. ^ "ConsumerReports.org - Our history: 1930s". Archived from the original on 2006-06-27.

External links