The piece is very fair and balanced. If anything, it skews slightly more favorably to the manufacturers. Despite that, the publication of this article did not sit well with Hartz Mountain Corporation, resulting in The Center for Public Integrity publishing a follow-up article:
“Earlier this month, the Center received a five-page “open letter” from Hartz Mountain Corporation alleging that our 12/16/08 story, Pets and Pesticides: Let’s Be Careful Out There, contained inaccurate and misleading information about spot on flea and tick treatments for pets.”
The story of someone debating Hartz, then receiving an insulting, crap document in response is quite familiar to us. Though our affiliates’ crap document came from Dr. Melinda Fernyhough, this particular dispute was led by Hartz Mountain Corporation’s Dr. Marta Draper. We’d love to get our hands on this letter, but it is no longer available.
The Center for Public Integrity discusses Dr. Draper’s disputes and categorically dismisses her false accusations. This case is just one more instance of Hartz accusing others of being misleading when, in fact, they are the party guilty of this deplorable conduct.
We strongly encourage readers to take a moment to read both pieces from The Center for Public Integrity, one of the country’s oldest and largest nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news organizations with a mission statement quite near to our hearts:
“Our mission: to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions in order to cause them to operate with honesty, integrity, accountability and to put the public interest first.” – The Center for Public Integrity
A few weeks ago we were contacted by a Hartz victim in Canada who had applied Hartz Ultraguard One Spot Treatment for Cats and Kittens on two cats. Both of these cats reacted to the product with neurological issues. Chewie, sadly, did not survive:
“We euthanized him after a 20 minute grand mal seizure. We couldn’t even hold him in the room. My boyfriend and I had to go to Chewie in the lab while one girl held him down. The vet said ‘touch his head, tell him you love him, and let’s do this quickly’. It was the worst thing I’ve ever witnessed an animal go through.” – Hartz Victim
Hartz may wish to deny this video, pointing out the public has no way of knowing what product or brand was used, if any, or if the individual that contacted us was just making the whole thing up for no other reason than to try and pin another death on poor old Hartz.
While it’s true we have not met this individual face-to-face, those familiar with our blog should be aware we know our way around the internet and are not in the habit of accepting claims at face value. Immediately upon contacts of this nature, our team of investigators search for corroborating evidence.
Through research, we discovered:
The name given checks out as a real name of a person living in the specific city in Canada this individual claims as their residence.
Through IP address confirmation, this individual reached out to us from the specific city in Canada in which they claim to reside.
Unknown to the individual, they confirmed personal, anecdotal information we had already discovered about the individual this person claims to be.
Additionally, this individual, aside from the video, has provided:
Photos of the Hartz Ultraguard One Spot Treatment for Cats and Kittens package, claimed by this individual to be the culprit. This demonstrates the correct species product was used:
The correct Health Canada number (26491) for the Hartz product claimed to be the culprit (This product matches up with US product EPA #2596-147, used by our affiliates)
A phone number where this individual can be reached
The case number Hartz assigned to this complaint after the victim contacted them
Photos of Veterinarian notes on the case of Chewie:
Additionally, this individual has used their actual name through all correspondences with both us and Hartz. They would have gone to great lengths in order to stage what they claim has occurred and, in our opinion, their story more than sufficiently checks out. By the end of this post, we think you’ll agree.
As we’ve already mentioned, this individual contacted Hartz:
“The first thing the Hartz guy said was ‘I’d hate to think there was some sort of cross contamination or worse, if the wrong product was in the wrong packaging’. I thought that was a pretty random thing to say…” – Hartz Victim
In the following screenshot, you’ll see the individual in question reiterated what Hartz said on the phone to the Company’s Facebook account. The Hartz Facebook team made no attempt to dispute that claim:
You’ll notice in this particular screenshot, at the beginning of corresponding with Hartz, the victim had hopes this would get resolved appropriately, though doubts were already forming. Regarding this conversation, the victim says:
“At this time I was still very upset and did not want to fight, I wanted answers. As you can see, I didn’t get one.” – Hartz Victim
Moving on, you’ll notice in the Veterinarian’s notes above, they assert an opinion that Chewie suffered from what appears to be Permethrin poisoning. There is not supposed to be any Permethrin in Hartz Ultraguard One Spot Treatment for Cats and Kittens (2.9% Methoprene), though it is found in Hartz Ultraguard One Spot Treatment for Dogs and Puppies (2.9% Methoprene, 45% Permethrin).
You’ll also note, in the screenshots above, a toxicologist was consulted who supports the Veterinarian’s opinion concerning this case. It resembles Permethrin poisoning (or some other toxic exposure) despite there being no indication on the packaging of Permethrin’s presence or anything other than Methoprene, an Insect Growth Regulator, widely accepted to be safe.
Because of this, the toxicologist inquired if there was a dog in the house that may have been treated with a Permethrin product or some other toxic substance. The veterinarian consulted with the Hartz victim, then noted:
“Called [Hartz Victim]. Discussed info from toxicologist. Confirmed dog in house, however, he was treated with Revolution (Selamectin)”
Revolution is an FDA-Approved Animal Drug, for use on both cats and dogs. As the Veterinarian notes, Revolution contains Selamectin, which kills fleas and flea eggs, along with treating for mites and a variety of worms. It does not match the profile of a possible culprit in this case.
The Veterinarian and toxicologist’s findings followed in line with the Hartz representative’s readily-offered suspicion that perhaps Permethrin was mistakenly placed into Hartz’ cat packaging, causing the death of Chewie.
This prompted the individual in question to post these notes from their Veterinarian on Hartz’ Facebook wall:
After posting this information on Hartz’ Facebook wall, the individual in question reached out to us.
Here is where this already interesting case takes an even more interesting spin.
“Vet AND Toxicologist agree. The symptoms, timing of onset, even reputation of this product and brand – the only conclusion is that Hartz killed my cat The lab tech even said ‘we see this all the time’” – Hartz Victim
“This picture lasted exactly 7 minutes on the Hartz fb page before someone deleted it” – Hartz Victim
This was followed up privately shortly thereafter with the following revelation:
“I went back and it’s there!! People even slammed them in the comments… so weird. So I posted it, it was removed… then re-appeared?
I asked them in a public forem for a written apology [:)]
*forum
Can you see it from your page?” – Hartz Victim
No, we could not see it from our page, nor could we see it using various control methods.
Clearly, there was a discrepancy.
Here is a portion of what the Hartz Victim (represented in black) was seeing:
Here is what we were able to see:
So, it became apparent we were witnessing a different Hartz tactic. This tactic is a bit more advanced than Hartz’ typical course of action: deletion.
The flaw in this plan is people really don’t take kindly to a product that causes them to inadvertently sicken, injure or kill those they love.
These kinds of people have a habit of finding each other and uniting. Through that, there were individuals watching this case unfold from both sides of the privacy setting, exposing Hartz’ intent to lure this victim into thinking this comment had been left in the public domain when it had, in fact, been hidden.
Unfortunately for Hartz, this individual (represented in black) was on to them.
In the screenshot above, the victim states:
“Isn’t this form a good DM as it is only visable [sic] to some people?” – Hartz Victim
“time dated screen shots from another computer show this is not a public message.” – Hartz Victim
To this, a Hartz Facebook “prisoner”, probably long forgotten, made themselves known:
“[Hartz Victim], Hartz removed this picture from their page, so it’s no longer visible to the public. Basically, they don’t want others to know about how dangerous their products are so they can keep making a profit. Sad.” – [Name Removed]
The likelihood something of this nature would be limited to one package is highly unlikely and we hope Hartz is taking a close look at what is happening with Health Canada product #26491, though we are not holding our breath.
The individual in question makes one last point on this posting, regarding Hartz’ request for contact information:
“Hartz has all my info and has been able to ‘reach out’ to me at any time.” – Hartz Victim
It has been days now since the individual in question called Hartz out on their Facebook grouping tactic, with no response:
“I believe I am just being ignored.” – Hartz Victim
We notice Hartz has removed a comment since the time of our last entry. We have accented the comment in question in the following screenshot from June 27, 2012:
Here is a susbsequent screenshot, taken on June 30, 2012, showing Hartz’ decision to remove the comment, which had received 5 “likes”:
“Don’t use Hartz. It’s terrible for your pets” – [Name Removed]
Upon closer inspection, we noticed this posting consists of 7 comments, even though a Facebook glitch notes 10 comments in the preview of this posting:
It would appear Hartz has removed 2 other comments before we got any screenshots of this posting.
We’d like to return to the subject of Alex Gweneth from 5W Public Relations, willing lackey and outrageous shill for Hartz Mountain Corporation. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Gweneth and his role in this ugly affair, please read this article first.
Since having been exposed for fraud, Mr. Gweneth has been quite busy. Is he running around correcting inaccuracies we’ve exposed?
No, of course not. Hartz does not fix problems.
Instead; Hartz Mountain Corporation, through Mr. Gweneth, has decided to continue peddling their overwhelmingly fraudulent claim that their flea treatment products for cats cause no adverse reactions:
This author bio can be found at the bottom of every one of Alex Gweneth’s Ewagz.com articles as well as his author page. As you can see Mr. Gweneth has posted 7 more articles, on Ewagz.com alone, since we last checked in on him.
Mr. Gweneth has been hard at work spreading more Hartz crap all over the internet but, today, we’d like to highlight some older posts by Mr. Gweneth, which were not covered in our previous exposé. These articles have been left in their entirety in the interest of preserving their “integrity”.
In this first piece, you’ll see Mr. Gweneth performing his usual routine of fear-mongering, followed by claims attempting to mislead potential consumers into thinking Hartz is a trusted brand, complete with a false statement that these products are well known to produce minimal adverse reactions over the years.
“With [sic] arrival of summers [sic], most pet owners start to worry about the measures they need to take to protect their pets from the menace of fleas and ticks. Once fleas ride into your home and start laying eggs in the fur of your pet, getting rid of them is not an easy task. Even if you manage to kill the adult fleas, the eggs hatch and you have a completely new generation of fleas ready to suck your beloved pet white. However, pet owners, [sic] who have been using the [sic] Hartz Flea & Tick Control products for years, [sic] are well aware that these high quality products are completely safe and effective in protecting their beloved pets from the various troubles caused by these small parasites.
Hartz flea & tick control products are rendered [??] least toxic and safe for direct use on animals by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Numerous pet owners, [sic] who have been using the [sic] Hartz products on their pets over the years, [sic] have confirmed that these products cause minimum adverse reactions or allergies on animal skin. The dedication of Hartz to ensure pet production [??] and their passion ensure the happiness of pets combined with their years of experience in manufacturing pet care products definitely provides them with an advantage over other pet care product manufacturing brands. [The preceding sentence is simply a grammatical nightmare. Try not to let your head explode.]
The people at Hartz are well aware of the intense bonding that most pet owners have with their pets. So, the company strives hard to provide products that can ensure to make this relationship even healthier and fun filled. They utilize the latest technologies and innovative ideas of their researchers in creating pet care products, including flea and tick control treatments that will ensure a healthier, happier and longer life for them. In order to serve their customers in a better manner, Hartz has established strategic partnerships with leading research and educational organizations that help the company in developing new and better products for pet care.
Hartz is a premium brand of pet care products which has been catering to pets includes [sic] dogs, cats, parrots, finches, goldfish, tropical fish, reptiles, chinchillas, guinea pigs, hamsters and rabbits etc. for over 80 years. Hartz flea & tick control treatments happens to be amongst [sic] the most popular creations of this 1,500 products strong Company.
To know more about the [sic] Hartz flea & tick control products and check out their entire range of the [sic] products, log on to [??] http://www.hartz.com/”
This next piece is filled with more crazy nonsense.
The act of burning the vacuum bag afterwards is even more dangerous if one has chosen to utilize Hartz Carpet Powder as Mr. Gweneth suggests. We do not imagine burning off pesticides is a good idea.
More disturbingly, this article seems to be running the risk of causing the possibility of overexposure to these pesticides by suggesting such a fierce and multi-tiered plan of action, when the simple acts of vacuuming and laundering would probably suffice.
“Winning the war against fleas and ticks requires preparation and research. These nasty creatures not only live off their host by sucking their blood day in and day out but also act as carriers of deadly diseases and parasites such as tapeworms. The itchy whelps [sic] they leave behind on the skin of their host are both unsightly and [sic] nuisance. Don’t for a moment believe, [sic] that they are [sic] threat to only your cats, dogs, or hamsters, these little beasts can easily choose you for their next ride.
How you make sure that your pets and your home are free from parasites is entirely up to you. But you are not alone in your crusade against these tiny brutes as Hartz flea & tick prevention products help you to eliminate them and keep [sic] away for good.
There is nothing to be embarrassed about if your home gets infested with fleas.
While it is not a reflection on the cleanliness of your home, remedying the problem may require you to take action on several fronts. Along with treating your pets with various Hartz Flea & Tick control products like Hartz Flea & Tick Shampoo, Hartz Flea & Tick Collars and Hartz Flea & Tick Drops etc. you should thoroughly vacuum your home and burn the bag afterwards. Hartz Flea & Tick Carpet Powder would [sic] help you to eliminate any remaining flea eggs and prevent fleas from returning. Don’t forget to wash any bedding your pet lays on, including your own bed if it is in the habit of snuggling with you.
Treat your yard while you’re at it, if you want your efforts to be truly fruitful. If they are out there, they will find a way to ride in. If you are trying to deal with a really bad infestation, it may take several treatments at one go and several repetitions before you can be sure that you have wiped out the buggers completely.
Hartz is a premium brand of pet care products which has been catering to pets includes [sic] dogs, cats, parrots, finches, goldfish, tropical fish, reptiles, chinchillas, guinea pigs, hamsters and rabbits etc. for over 80 years. Hartz flea & tick control treatments happens to be amongst [sic] the most popular creations of this 1,500 products strong Company.
To know more about the, [sic] Hartz flea & tick products and check out their entire range, log on to [??] http://www.hartz.com/”
We’d like to conclude today’s post by addressing a piece Alex Gweneth did about Hartz’ Facebook Flea & Tick Education Tab. It should come as no surprise the piece is garbage, concluding with these sentences:
“With an extensive set of information about Hartz products, common dog and cat flea problems, news and updates, everything is right at the fingertips of concerned pet owners. It may be all that pet parents need to keep their four-legged friends happy and healthy during any season.”
Though Hartz would like very much to be the only resource consumers utilize, given the wealth of inaccuracies we’ve found on their Facebook Flea & Tick Education Tab, we think the public would be better off consulting the EPA and reputable Veterinarians.
In conclusion, Mr. Gweneth’s postings since our first piece have been a bit more careful, but we’re sure he’ll give us something more to talk about in the future.
As you can imagine, the world of social media can be very scary to a corporation like Hartz that has so much to fear in the manner of public backlash, but they have a “cunning” solution to that problem:
The “Delete” Button
We’d like to take a look at three recent examples of this strategy, the first of which involves a follower who contacted us shortly after posting on Hartz’ Facebook wall about their product making her cat deathly ill 5 yrs ago:
In the screenshot above, this Hartz Victim tells us:
“I just posted on Hartz about my cat getting critically ill 5 years ago from their crappy flea product. I said my Vet said it had chemical in it that were toxic to cats. I asked WHY there are still selling their product. I know several other people whose cats got sick from the flea meds. There cats wer not as lucky as mine, they died. I re-checked their site 10 minutes later and my post had vanished….unbelievable…what sick, unethical bastards!”
Given how often we have seen Hartz delete complaints as well as comments from protestors, we fully believe the individual above despite us having no physical proof of this individual’s claim.
With these next two examples, however, we have documentation.
Here is an individual, unaware of our organization (to our knowledge) that contacted Hartz:
The Hartz Victim in the screenshot above states:
“Can you tell me why my cat is dead the day after applying your flea and tick medication? You portray it as safe, but I don’t think that he has the same opinion as you. The Vet said that all of you that sell this crap ought to be prosecuted.”
Before moving on, we ask you to note the comment underneath the death complaint. You’ll see in the screenshot below, this comment now features a different comment on top of it, proving Hartz’ decision to delete the death complaint rather than respond or allow members of the public to see the truth.
Moving on, we’d like to conclude today’s post with the story of Sangha.
Sangha’s family found us shortly after going through a very traumatic experience.
Through contact with the Hartz Victim above, we learned a picture of Sangha was posted on Hartz’ wall as well, in the interest of calling more attention to this matter of public safety.
Upon learning this, our organization obtained the following screenshot:
By noting the time stamp information offered by Facebook, combined with time stamp information in the bottom-right corner of the above screenshot, you can determine the posting of Sangha to Hartz’ Facebook wall occurred on June 11, 2012 at 10:56pm.
Applying this same technique to the screenshot below, you’ll notice the Hartz Victim did not post any comment on the photo until 5:33am the following morning.
It took Hartz Mountain Corporation until 3:30pm to take note. This cost them, as evidenced by a separate individual taking note and commenting. We are sure others saw this as well.
This time Hartz tried pasting in their form response:
Here is the conversation found in the screenshot above:
[Hartz Victim]:
“This cat, my cat, my healthy beautiful cat, died just over a week after receiving her first dose of Hartz Ultraguard for cats and kittens.”
[Other Individual]:
“I am so sorry. She was a beautiful, sweet kitty.”
Hartz:
“Hi [Hartz Victim]. We are very sorry to hear about the loss of your cat. As pet parents, we know that losing a beloved member of your family can be devastating. We would like to learn more about what happened and ask that you please call us immediately at 1-800-929-3566.”
[Hartz Victim]:
“Based on the amount of complaints you have already received, I’m positive you already know what happened to my cat. Please, stop selling the Ultraguard product.”
Once Hartz knew the jig was up and this Hartz Victim wasn’t going to be silenced, they promptly deleted the posting. This can be proven by looking back at the screenshot of Sangha’s posting before any comments were made.
You’ll note, there is a posting below the Hartz Victim’s post of a small dog in a sink with Hartz shampoo in the background.
However, in the screenshot below, you’ll notice the dog in the sink posting now has a different posting featured directly above it.
Hartz may have deleted the comment in an effort to silence this victim, but they will not succeed.
Not only did this particular victim alert Broken Hartz, they have alerted HartzVictims.org as well with this posting of Sangha’s death.
The actions documented above leave us with further doubts as to the truthfulness with which Hartz approaches its incident report submissions to the EPA, using nothing but the “honor system”.
We will be creating an infographic for Sangha to accompany other Hartz Victim infographics, found in our Warrior Kit and will be distributing this graphic in many ways in order to aid HartzVictims.org, HartzKills.org, TinyTimmy.org and others in combatting Hartz Mountain Corporation’s revisionist history.
To be clear, Hartz does not delete all negative comments and complaints of adverse reactions but, in the case of death, we feel the following chart sums up the Hartz Facebook Team’s position:
We at Broken Hartz wish to extend our condolences to the Hartz Victims highlighted in this post as well as all those throughout the decades who have had the misfortune to be affected by this evil corporation.
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS A GRAPHIC IMAGE
It’s become pretty clear to the members of our organization that Hartz Mountain Corporation has made Facebook one of its primary tools of deception.
Hartz not only uses Facebook to mislead the public with its Flea & Tick Education Tab, which we’ve already addressed, but they make some other very interesting claims when dealing directly with the public on this popular social media network.
The following graphic image is reported to be of a dog burned by a Hartz flea product.
It has been shared all over Facebook, including our wall:
As you can see, with 55 likes, 279 comments and 849 shares; the picture above has created a huge amount of interaction in relation to our small organization, but did you know this picture has made its way to Hartz’ Facebook account as well?
With no likes, no shares and only 3 comments, you may be surprised to learn we find Hartz’ interaction to be more interesting than ours:
The comments in the picture above read as follows, with emphasis on an unexpected “revelation”:
[Facebook User]:
“THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU USE HARTZ FLEA PRODUCTS!!!!! DO NOT USE HARTZ PRODUCTS!!!!”
Hartz:
“Hi [Facebook User]. We hold our products to the strictest efficacy and safety standards by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Food and Drug Administration. If there is no animal standard in place, we hold our products to human standards. In fact, all Hartz flea and tick products are held to the same safety and efficacy testing standards as those purchased from veterinarians. Hartz was one of the first brands to comply with EPA standards when the agency was first established. You can find links to independent studies about our products here: https://www.facebook.com/HartzPets/app_204655519608631. If you would like to speak more about this issue, we encourage you to email us at consumeraffairs@hartz.com.”
[Facebook User]:
“Then explain the photo….. This is [sic] burns from your product.”
[Facebook User]:
“I have workedin.vet [sic] clinics for years and your products are not safe. Please stop producing flea and tick solution, for our pets sake!”
Hartz had no further comment but, as you can see from the portion we highlighted in the screenshot above (and emphasized in the quote), it would appear Hartz is overdue for some congratulations.
Way to go, Hartz.
We didn’t realize your flea and tick products had received FDA-Approval.
We’re not sure how we missed this, though we suspect it has something to do with the fact you are lying through your collective teeth because no Hartz flea products carry FDA-Approval.
Please add this intentionally misleading statement to the ever-increasing list of shameless lies Hartz has fed the public in an effort to maintain control through misinformation.
The information linked to from this page serves to get the public good and concerned about the dangers of fleas, mites and others by making statements like this:
The highlighted text in the screenshot above says:
“Female fleas start producing eggs 24 to 48 hours after taking their first blood meal and can lay up to 50 eggs per day.”
This comment gets repeated on the equivalent cat page:
We at Broken Hartz found this little “tidbit” quite surprising, considering Hartz received the following reprimand from the EPA for one of their label submissions in 2009:
Hartz must have really disagreed with the EPA on this one, or perhaps teenage flea pregnancy has been on the rise, because Hartz repeatedly claims much higher flea-egg production rates than the EPA acknowledges on 4 of the 10 “educational” references provided on this page.
The real problem here is Hartz exercising one of its favorite tools, “vague truth”.
There are differing reports on fleas, but it is generally accepted that fleas are indeed capable of laying up to 50 eggs per day. This, however; is the upper threshold, not the average.
Seeing as how the average rate of flea-egg production, per the EPA, is 25 per day; logically, many fleas lay less than 25 eggs per day. That is why the EPA would view statements such as those made by Hartz to be misleading.
Additionally, it is not fully clear, but Hartz seems to be suggesting a 100% flea-egg success rate, as opposed to the generally accepted 75%-80% survival rate.
The previous two examples are causing some miscommunication of facts, but seeing as how Hartz isn’t exactly lying, perhaps you think we are being a little excessive on this point.
These next two examples however add a new layer to the “vague truth” tactic.
The highlighted text in the pair of screenshots above read:
“Female fleas start producing eggs within 24 to 48 hours after taking their first blood meal and can lay up to 40 – 50 eggs per day.”
Again, Hartz has not technically lied, but we at Broken Hartz feel the act of placing a range of “40 – 50 eggs per day” on the equation will “inadvertently” lead the public into thinking fleas lay between 40 – 50 flea-eggs per day as opposed to an average of 25 flea-eggs per day, as preferred by the EPA.
Interesting wording, Hartz.
What you call “factual information about flea and tick products”, the EPA considers “false and misleading”.
We wonder who to trust.
Stop back on Thursday as we expose even more of the real story behind Hartz’ efforts to “educate” the public in Part IV of our “A [sic] Education Tab” series.
In this post, we’ll begin focusing on materials appearing on the right-hand side of this tab. This information comes straight from Hartz in an effort to “properly” educate potential customers.
As you can imagine, Hartz chooses to start off by deceiving the public into thinking they put safety first. The following material is reached by clicking the first “From Hartz” link, “The UltraGuard ‘Cause’”:
The text in the screenshot above reads:
“The relationship between you and your pet is very important to us, [sic] Hartz is committed to providing you with products that will effectively get rid of fleas, ticks and mosquitoes to keep your pet pest-free.
In these economic times, we know how important it is to have affordable options. Hartz UltraGuard® is committed to offering you “better protection for less”.
The above Hartz text, aside from being pure crap, makes a “but don’t take our word for it” kind of claim at the end but, if you follow that link, you find yourself on a Hartz page with nonsense comparison charts drafted by Hartz based, in part, on Hartz surveys.
Here is a close-up of the Hartz Ultraguard Pro vs. Frontline Plus Dog Product Comparison Chart:
You’ll notice many asterisks and other notations on these charts as well as the fact Hartz seems to think the additional feature of “repelling” is a bonus.
We at Broken Hartz feel killing suffices and, in some ways, repellent features are not attractive. A repelled pest is afforded the opportunity to continue hiding in your environment. A product that does not discourage pests from meeting their fates could be viewed as preferable.
If you remove the repellent “bonus” and decipher the notations on the Hartz Ultraguard Pro vs. Frontline Plus Dog Product Comparison Chart, you get the following clarified comparison:
There you have it.
A couple years ago Hartz was determined, by a Hartz survey, that their applicator was better than Frontline Plus.
Both products kill one pest that the other does not.
Frontline Plus is more expensive; but both are less than $20/month and, according to the EPA, may not even be necessary.
Serious medical complications would obviously result in hefty Veterinary service bills, heartache and pain.
The Hartz Ultraguard Pro vs. Advantage comparison is similarly deceptive, primarily based on the fact Hartz is trying to gloss over Bayer’s newer Advantage II product.
This product kills all flea life stages including flea eggs and larvae to prevent infestation and, in the case of its dog version; treats, prevents and controls lice infestations as well.
Hartz can still claim victory in the Tick and Mosquito columns as well as being cheaper and, in the case of an adverse event, far more likely to kill.
Take your pick.
Moving on, if you click the next tab on this first “educational” resource Hartz has provided, you will see this:
The above screen outlines “The Hartz UltraGuard ‘Cause’”.
As you would expect, it’s filled with more deceptive nonsense, designed to lure consumers into trusting that which is indefensibly monstrous.
We won’t bother repeating every bit of the above screenshot here but, since Hartz chose to emphasize the following piece, we think they would appreciate if we made sure to share this particular lie with you:
“At Hartz, we are committed to providing you with the necessary information to make educated, objective decisions about pest treatment products for your pet.”
Hartz would like it if you keep this mind and, actually, so would we.
It makes the information we will be presenting in our “A [sic] Education Tab” series that much more deplorable.
On the last tab available on this first “educational” Hartz resource, you are met with the following:
This page offers nothing but some claims of Hartz having educated staff in their research facilities.
We at Broken Hartz wish to point out, a corrupt, educated man can lie for money far more effectively than a fool.
There is not much else that can be derived from this page except, given the photographic evidence, the primary functions of these individuals seem to be holding petri dishes and posing next to microscopes.
We’d like to finish out today’s post by moving on to the second of Hartz “educational” links, but that link is broken.
Why is this page broken, you ask?
That’s a good question, and the answer is hilarious!
We caused it.
Back when we first exposed Hartz for actually publishing the Executive Summary document they submitted to our affiliates, Hartz made the desperate move of re-structuring their entire website in order to try and break our link to the offending page.
Of course, we found the new location instantly, then informed Hartz it was futile to keep moving the page, since we already had archived the offense.
All Hartz achieved by hurriedly re-structuring their website was prove we had caught something they didn’t want us to see.
Furthermore; by choosing to re-locate these lies, rather than delete them from their website; Hartz proved, despite the risk, they are very keen to have this information on their website for some unknown reason.
You can read more about what happened and how we pinned Hartz to the wall in our post, “Status Report”.
In that post we pointed out how Hartz renamed one of their web folders from “About_Hartz” to “About_HartzPet” in order to break our link to their offending web page.
Aside from completely failing to thwart us, this action caused a plethora of Hartz links to become broken.
Take another look at Hartz’ broken “Product Efficacy” page. We’ve circled the important part:
Hartz’ “Product Efficacy” page is filled with the same junk we’ve come to expect from Hartz but, since it’s not technically an active part of Hartz’ Facebook “Education” Tab, we will not be addressing it at this time.
This concludes Part II of “A [sic] Education Tab”.
That’s the number you provided the EPA with for a document you claim was delivered to the USEPA in Edison, New Jersey on February 26, 2008 in response to the EPA stating they did not receive a report from you for the calendar year 2007 on or before March 1st, 2008.
We know the EPA decided to drop the fine they had levied upon you, solely for the purposes of settlement, but we’d still very much like to take a look at this evidence for ourselves, if you don’t mind.
Also, as you know, we are quite resourceful when it comes to mining the internet for information about you, but we have been unable to find any photos of the Hartz Ultraguard OneSpot Flea Egg and Flea Larvae Treatment for Cats and Kittens (EPA# 2596-147) to match up with the version of 2596-147 we purchased at Rite Aid.
This detail still puzzles us and any information you could provide to help us get to the bottom of this little “anomaly” would be greatly appreciated.
Well, we’ll let you go for now.
Those lies don’t write themselves and we know you’ve got paychecks to cash.
Today, we’d like to have a little fun and look at some standard Hartz copy.
Hartz seems to have had difficulty communicating its intent, so we’ve taken the liberty of helping them clear up confusion by humbly offering our writing services.
Below, you will find actual Hartz text, followed by our suggestions (in blue) for how the true message could be more properly communicated:
Our Heritage
We understand how important your pet is to you & your family. That’s why we’ve dedicated more than 80 years to providing products that keep pets happy, healthy and thriving.
We understand how important your pet is to you & your family but, the truth is, we don’t give a damn and our summer homes and BMWs aren’t paying for themselves, people.
That’s why we’ve dedicated more than 80 years to providing lies, combined with bottom-of-the-barrel, low-budget, high-profit poisons to keep your pet sick or dead and you and your family grief-stricken.
That’s the Hartz promise!
Our Mission
At Hartz, we strengthen the bond between all pets and their families by providing innovative, trustworthy and affordable products; along with the knowledge and support to care for pets.
At Hartz, we strengthen the bond between manufacturer and distributor by offering crap documents to dispute consumer complaints in order to assist distributors with shirking responsibility.*
*Above named “crap document” is for entertainment purposes only and is not meant for distribution to Broken Hartz or their affiliates. Alternately, above named “crap document” can be used effectively as toilet paper.
Our Vision
To become the leading pet care company by playing a major role to create a world where every pet leads a healthy, happy and long life in a loving home.
To become the leading pet care company by playing a major role in deceiving the public in order to create a world where every retail location has no choice but to carry our negligent poisons and every pet leads a shortened, afflicted, sad life in a loving, but devastated home.
Our Values
These eight beliefs embody who we are and guide everything that we do.
We believe our people make the difference.
We believe our people make the difference, through their willingness to lie for our shady organization in exchange for cash.
We are passionate about what we do – especially about caring for pets.
We are passionate about covering up the truth, especially if we can make a buck.
We value straight talk especially when it is hard.
We value straight talk, especially when it’s hard; provided you define “straight talk” as “spouting a torrent of lies” and “especially when it’s hard” as “all the time”.
We build relationships based on mutual trust and respect, while embracing diversity.
We build relationships with distributors based on kick-backs, coersion and disdain for consumers; all while embracing the pile of money we hold so dear.
We are demanding of ourselves and one another.
We are demanding of ourselves and one another. Sure, today’s lie was great but we’re always striving to deliver the next truly offensive lie to the public.
We always strive for growth to win in the marketplace.
NOTE: THIS POINT ALREADY ACCURATELY REPRESENTS HARTZ’ INTENT.
We want to win but not at the expense of our employees, customers, suppliers, communities, stakeholders, or planet.
We want to win and no one, no thing and no law will stand in our way. Watch out, planet!
We are committed to honest communication about our products and their benefits.
We are committed to honest communication about absolutely nothing. We are shady as hell and we know it.
We offer these edits to Hartz, free of charge, and hope to see them put into use shortly!
Hartz’ brazen attempts to censor our message has just gone a step further.
Early in the morning, on 3/16/12, Broken Hartz affiliates stumbled upon this:
Pinterest.com/BrokenHartzPets, shortly before Pinterest updated their service on 3/16/12.
Broken Hartz was very fortunate to catch this when we did because shortly after grabbing this screenshot, Pinterest updated. The Hartz logo is still visible, but not as clearly as it had been.
Pinterest.com/BrokenHartzPets, after Pinterest updated on 3/16/12.
With this most-recent offense, Hartz has gone on full-tilt, boldly attempting to associate their trademark with the Broken Hartz/Broken Hartz Pets servicemark. This action comes right on the heels of Hartz crying to Twitter we were guilty of confusing the public and legally requiring us to state the lack of affiliation between our respective organizations.
Readers, Hartz’ response regarding our claims has been made.
We are right and Hartz’ only options are to try and bury the truth or cease operation due to overwhelming public backlash.
Pinterest.com/HartzPets, shortly before Pinterest updated on 3/16/12.
For reference, here is Pinterest.com/HartzPets, after the update:
Pinterest.com/HartzPets, after Pinterest updated on 3/16/12.
Thankfully, Pinterest has a friendlier complaint interface than Facebook although, it too asks for personal details. We feel this matter will be more cut and dry than the Facebook offense, seeing as how Hartz was stupid enough to actually put their logo on the offending page. Plus, Broken Hartz is already on Pinterest:
Pinterest.com/BrokenHartz, shortly before Pinterest updated on 3/16/12.
Here is Pinterest.com/BrokenHartz, after Pinterest updated. You’ll notice our mark didn’t get screwed up like Hartz’ did. BH has just got it like that:
Pinterest.com/BrokenHartz, after Pinterest updated on 3/16/12.
If you’re ever in Pinterest town, check us out. We take a different approach on Pinterest, which some may find more agreeable to our guerrilla warfare tactics on Twitter.
This one’s going to cost you dearly, Hartz.
Your answer is clear.
Your attempts to contain us are failing.
You have lost.
=^..^=
UPDATE: HARTZ HAS REMOVED THEIR TRADEMARK FROM PINTEREST.COM/BROKENHARTZPETS.
Pinterest.com/BrokenHartzPets, after Hartz saw our very "Pinteresting" post this morning (3/16/12)
After seeing our post on the morning of 3/16/12, Hartz scrambled to hide what they had done by removing the offending Hartz trademark from the Pinterest.com/BrokenHartzPets page.
With so many to choose from at the moment, Broken Hartz is not entirely sure which moron is currently steering Hartz Mountain Corporation’s sinking ship, but whoever it is seems to be forgetting the matter of our screenshots.
The screenshots of your offense have been submitted to Pinterest in order to clearly document what you have done, Hartz.
RT @paige_doss: @BrokenHartzPets Put Hartz collar on my adult cat. She spiked a high fever, lost clumps of fur, vomited, refused to eat, ... 3 months ago
Happy New Year to all who've supported our mission in some way, shape or form. Without all of you, we would never have a chance of success. 4 months ago
@Di_sss Thank you very much, Guye. We look forward to a great 2013 together! =^..^= 4 months ago
The lab tech even said ‘we see this all the time’” – Hartz Victim
