Consumer Reports influenced by Consumers' Research
History
Consumer Reports' predecessor, Consumers' Research, was founded in 1926. In 1936, Consumer Reports was founded by Arthur Kallet, Colston Warne, and others who felt that the established Consumers' Research organization was not aggressive enough.  Kallet, an engineer and director of Consumers' Research, had a falling out with F.J. Schlink and started his own organization with Amherst College economics professor Colston Warne. In part due to actions of Consumers' Research, the House Un-American Activities Committee placed Consumers Union on a list of subversive organizations, only to remove it in 1954.
Prominent consumer advocate Ralph Nader was on the board of directors, but left in 1975 due to a "division of philosophy" with new Executive Director Rhoda Karpatkin. Nader wanted Consumer Reports to focus on policy and product advocacy, while Karpatkin focused on product testing.  Karpatkin was appointed executive director in 1974 and retired as president in the early 2000s.Consumer Reports has helped start several consumer groups and publications, in 1960 helping create global consumer group Consumers International and in 1974 providing financial assistance to Consumers' Checkbook which is considered akin to Consumer Reports for local services in the seven metropolitan areas they serve.
At the start of 2009, Consumer Reports acquired The Consumerist blog from Gawker Media for approximately $600,000.
Prior to 2012, the organization did business as Consumers Union. The reason for the name change was that the name of  "Consumer Reports" was more familiar to the public than the name of "Consumers Union".Consumer Reports spent $200,000 on lobbying in 2015.The Consumerist was subsequently closed in December 2017, when its content was folded into the Consumer Reports website.