Consumer Protest
| Author | Mary Lush |
| Pages | 150-153 |
Page 150
The United States was built on the philosophy of ensuring citizens' rights as set forth in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Throughout history, American citizens and consumers have expended considerable energy toward ensuring that organizations, retailers, and governments recognize and adhere to these rights. When citizens believe one of those rights has been overlooked or denied, they join in protest to rectify the perceived injustice, as was evidenced by the pre–American Revolution Boston Tea Party.
Since the Boston Tea Party, consumers have determined to attain and maintain an undercurrent of resistance to unfair business and industry practices directly affecting consumers' health, welfare, and safety. Specifically, during certain volatile times (the 1890s Progressive era, the Great Depression in the 1930s, and the 1960s through the 1970s), consumer concerns have been more strongly emphasized. Women's magazines (e.g., McClure's and Ladies' Home Journal) awakened women to the activist movement as a way of ensuring safe products, achieving justice, and attaining a level of equality.
Upton Sinclair's 1906 graphic novel The Jungle exposed unsanitary food-processing and meat-packing conditions. As a result, the U.S. Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which created the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In 1937 more than 100 people died after using a liquid sulfur drug, Elixir Sulfanilamide, which proved the inadequacy of the Pure Food and Drug Act. A new law, the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, was enacted. Before marketing new drugs, manufacturers were required by this law to prove their safety to the FDA.
World War II (1939–1945) minimized consumer concerns until the early 1960s. President John F. Kennedy, who considered consumer protection to be an important issue, suggested improvements in existing programs and also proposed two new consumer protection programs: a special assistant for consumer affairs (which was carried out by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964) and a national oversight board made up of labor, cooperative,
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Ralph Nader (1934– ). Social activist and consumer protestor in Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 4, 2004.
and consumer groups, the Consumer Federation of America (established in 1967).
Individuals such as Ralph Nader (1934– ) and his advocacy groups have crusaded to ensure consideration and enforcement of consumer rights since the mid-twentieth century. Often these activities have resulted not only in important consumer victories, but have also brought about positive changes in the political climate and in the institution of self-regulation.
From the time of the appearance of the automobile on the American landscape until 1966, when a federal auto safety law was enacted, manufacturers had determined the level of safety for their automobiles. From the first death in 1899 until 1966, about 2 million automobile-related deaths and about 100 million injuries—a figure three times greater than U.S. combat losses in all military actions—occurred. Consumer advocates postulated that many of those deaths and injuries could have been avoided had automobile producers included certain safety features as part of the standard package...
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