Back in the late '60's - mid '70's or so, Sergeants products started disappearing off the shelves and Hartz Mountain, as it was called back then, was about all you could find in some of the retail stores. Their products were awful compared to the Sergeants products, so I and others I knew wouldn't buy them and all I was buying then was along the line of shampoos, etc., because I lived in a really small town with few options, making the disappearance of Sergeants comparatively awful as well. You'd want to do the research to discover 'reasons' why Hartz Mountain products were 'replacing' Sergeants products in the retail market, but years later Sergeants did show up again in some form in some stores. The interesting thing at the time was that you'd find either Sergeants products, or Hartz Mountain on the shelves...not both.
As a kid, I had great difficulty understanding why that was...until I researched it...and even then, it made no sense to me.
Since that time, with the possible exception of kitty litter scoops, maybe a toy or two, I have not bought any Hartz (Mountain) products. I typically buy nothing if Hartz is the only choice, so this revelation sickens me...but does not actually surprise me.