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The role of the consumer in the history of economic theory is reviewed to derive a number of hypotheses regarding the conditions which might foster a sustained consumer movement. A survey of the consumer advocacy literature and consumer protection legislation of the 20th century supports the hypothesis that a sustained consumer movement did not manifest itself in the United States until the 1960s. Although the continued sustenance of this movement is open to debate, this article cites a number of attributes of the current state of the movement which suggest that it shall endure and flourish.

Low response rates remain the primary obstacle to the cost effective use mail surveys in market research. This study examines the efficacy of two cost-free techniques for improving the efficiency of this methodology. The effects of three different appear strategies and cover letter formats were examined in 3 x 3 factorial design. The egoistic appear produced higher response rates than either help-the-sponsor or social utility appears. This effect was most pronounced when the appeal was presented in the post script of the cover letter. Consistent with the results of a previous study, a control group which received no appeal manipulation yielded the highest response rate. Psychological reactance and self-perception theory were used to account for these results.

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