Grassroots advocacy is still in style.(Consumers Union)

"Dear Mr. Jones,

When you joined CU several years ago, you wrote us that you were tired of being played for a sucker by high-pressure salesmen; you said you were finally doing something about it: joining CU ... But when you say in your last letter that you now consider yourself a smart consumer, we beg to differ.

A smart consumer will follow the legislative battles on bills affecting his interests, and write letters to the chairmen of committees holding hearings on these bills. He will keep after the wavering members of Congress (if they are among his representatives).

A smart consumer will stir up every organization of which he is a member ... He will join CU's "Letter Writing Brigade" and organize his friends for active battle. The stakes are high, Mr. Jones; you can't afford to lose."

CONSUMER REPORTS, January 1946

In 1945 the issue on the editorial page of CONSUMER REPORTS was price controls; now the issues are wide ranging. But the power of consumers to influence legislators hasn't lessened. Fortunately, much of the information needed to get the ear of lawmakers today is on the Internet. Naturally, much of the activism that prompts change today is cyber-driven.

Over the past 18 months, we at Consumers Union, the publisher of CONSUMER REPORTS, have been forming a modern incarnation of the "Letter Writing Brigade": e-activists. More than 900,000 messages have already been written by consumers via CU ...