[1] MoPIRG's earliest campaigns included a successful appeal to the Federal Trade Commission to investigate deceptive advertising and sales practices by some St. Louis used car dealers in 1972.
It researched and developed legislation that helped improve workers' compensation laws in Missouri and was also successful in stopping an effort to eliminate the public display rating system for area restaurants.
From 1975 to 1981, MOPIRG developed a comprehensive revision of the state landlord-tenant law and successfully worked for its passage twice in the Missouri House of Representatives, although the bill was defeated both times in the Senate.
MOPIRG responded by forming a coalition of eleven political organizations, including the League of Women Voters and the NAACP, to urge Senator Thomas Eagleton to establish a merit nominating process on the state level.
Senator Eagleton's resistance to this idea led MoPIRG to work successfully for legislation requiring the President to develop merit selection guidelines.