CR isn't going to save anyone from getting screwed over. I had an iPhone 4 and the antenna was not an issue for me. Regardless, what CR reports isn't going to have a major impact on the MBP sales. However, it seems that Apple has usually been correct about battery life claims in previous generations and across it's product lines so it's odd that they could have been so wrong about this. Someone dropped the ball if battery life is so dramatically less than promised.
Consumer Reports has 7 million subscribers, and sells a number of magazines at stores and newsstands, probably heavily based on what is on the front cover. Apple has around 7.4% of the pc market share. So that is a potential of 518,000 Mac computers that could be purchased by Consumer Reports readers. I don't think that is inconsequential.