Residents Donate Pet Food To Animal Shelter After Mars Stop Donations
South Carolina residents have chipped in to donate hundreds of bags of pet food to the Anderson County animal shelter. Mars, Inc., maker of Pedigree pet food, told the shelter it was ending gifts of pet food to their shelter.
Mars, Inc. was the shelter’s main primary food supplier, and around 300 pets have been affected by this stop in donations.
The shelter was running low on pet food and asked the community for help. Numerous people brought in bags of pet food, and some even braved bad weather to bring in their donations.
The shelter manager said she is uncertain why Mars, Inc. decided to stop donating pet food, and unless the shelter can find another corporate sponsor, the shelter will need to rely on the community for help. She was also told that the decision to cut back on the food donation program was company wide and other shelters were affected.
Shelter employee Bonnie Wulff said, “We’ve had a lot of people come in and they’re emotional as well, just a few people who’ve been teary eyed, just want to come in and donate. They care as much about ‘em as we do.”
March 10th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Aren’t these pet food donations from Mars Inc. tax deductions for them (Mars) ? This must be affecting hundreds if not thousands of shelters???
March 10th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Pedigree ads–weren’t they the ones that have had the ad campaign to
help animals in shelters? and the sponsors of the Westminster Kennel Club dog show that was televised last month?
March 10th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Well that’s simple, get letters to the editors in affected communities, and elsewhere, publicize what’s happening. Faster than people can boycott Pedigree foods, Mars will smarten up. If they don’t some other food manufacturer will be happy to step in just for the positive PR to make the other guys look bad >Meanwhile local communities often want to help, they just need to get the high sign, maybe they can’t carry the ball forever on their own, but all of them are consumers, they can vote with their wallets too.
March 10th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Yes Beth I watched that ad just last night , they donate a $1.00 for every bag? of Pedigree purchased.
March 10th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Although I don’t recommend Pedigree foods, a shelter dog I’m sure would be happy with any food he or she could get her paws on. I donated some money to Pedigree for the shelters. I’m wondering what it went for now.
Robert
March 10th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Apparently, the decision is company-wide, so other shelters will be affected. Their heartbreaking doggie ads sure make them look good.
The Anderson shelter has contacted other manufacturers who have told them their donation lists are full. Science Diet was the only one that welcomed an application, but said it would take 6 months to be approved. I guess another option is to ask grocery stores in the area to put up a donations box, and to provide pallets of damaged goods, such as dented cans and torn bags.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Yea, I’ve seen that tear jerking ad about Pedigree donating to help homeless shelter dogs. I guess that is all hot air. Corporate jerks. If I fed their crappy food to my pets I’d boycott.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
All those expensive happy sappy TV ads the pet food companies spent money on instead of making decent food or paying vet bills for the pets their crap killed or sickened? instead of telling the truth?, people are not buying your story _or_ your products MARS and it is NOT going to go away!
March 10th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I sent an email to Mars asking them to step up and let these shelters know what the company plans are, as part of any good corporate citizenship plan. I also asked where the truth in advertising went regarding the Pedigree ads and when these shelters can expect to receive their share. Considering they not only run those ads, but also had an entire episode of “The Apprentice” dedicated to the campaign, they really need to answer for leaving vulnerable non-profit and charitable organizations in such a lurch.
Send your comments to Mars:
http://www.mars.com/global/Con.....act+Us.htm
March 10th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Each of us needs to write Mars…we are just preaching to the choir if we contain our comments to here..
March 10th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Thanks for the contact us site. I told them I thought it was hypocritical to run the “we are helping poor pound puppies” ads at the same time they were cutting off food to animal shelters. I also told them I won’t be buying Mars, Inc candy or Uncle Ben’s rice in the future. I used to buy Nutro cat food, but fortunately stopped before the poison pet food debacle.
March 10th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I’m just not going to buy any Mars products anymore. They’ve been on my bad list lately anyway….for bad practices in their cacao harvesting.
What a bunch of hypocrits!
March 10th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
In breaking news, the PR whizzes at Mars have done an about-turn for now:
“There was a miscommunication and we will provide them with food donations during this transition period.”
http://www.andersonindependent.....l-shelter/
March 10th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Somebody at Mars must have been reading the blog… I saw their shelter ad just last night. Wouldn’t the public love to know they run those tear jerking ads to get them to buy the food and than they turn their backs on the shelters! What a group -
Katie
March 10th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
But isn’t it amazing how the community pulled together in this crisis? Sometimes people just need to be reminded of how precious animals are and how their care is entrusted to us.
March 10th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Great idea to write directly to the company…..isn’t that called false advertising when a company sells a product saying one thing, and yet does another?
Cheryl
March 10th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
So much for Pedigree’s ad campaign! “We’re for dogs.” RIGHT!!!! It makes me SICK!!!!
BTaylor
March 10th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
My well-off friend always donate to the shelters via Pedigee. I strongly recommended her to only do it directly to the shelters of her own choosing but NOOOOOOO those damned ads got to her!
Yes, I definitely want to know what Pedigee has done with all the monetary donations? Does any shelter actually receive the donation or that money has been used to pay bonus to the company’s CEO, CFO, C-whatever?
March 11th, 2008 at 1:10 am
Less chance anyone will spot a negative trend if one brand of food is fed in a shelter environment. It’s hard to point a finger elsewhere if there is no elsewhere.
March 11th, 2008 at 8:08 am
I wrote before I saw the bit of spin about providing food during the transition. Oh, well. It’s important these corporate dickwads know when they have screwed up.
~The Lioness
March 11th, 2008 at 9:56 am
The Pedigree site is all over little Oliver and his friends, but when you go to their list of participating shelters (at least if you went yesterday), the list is “coming soon”.
Some beancounter must have figured out that donating $1.00 per bag sold (plus any other donations that people would send directly to Pedigree) is cheaper than providing food to shelters, even after the advertising is factored in. That “transition period” is ominous.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
In related news, USA Today reported a similar pet food disaster in Asia in 2004. Note the Pedigree reference.
“The outbreak of contamination in pet foods that killed hundreds and perhaps thousands of cats and dogs last year in the USA wasn’t the first such incident, veterinary pathologists have determined.
An outbreak in 2004 that also involved pet foods contaminated with industrial chemicals sickened more than 6,000 dogs and a smaller number of cats across Asia.
Kidney failure in the animals was linked to Pedigree dog foods and Whiskas cat foods manufactured in Thailand by Mars Inc. Thousands of pets died, according to Asian media reports at the time.”
http://www.usatoday.com/news/n.....food_N.htm
March 11th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
“Transition period” I guess describes the period where shelter dogs transition from having food to not having food.
March 11th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
If this is a county run shelter, isn’t it the county’s responsibility to provide food? That’s what people pay taxes for.
March 11th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I didn’t know that the Apprentice had a whole show about Pedigree. I would if the Donald wouldn’t appreciate a few emails about this? He seems pretty concerned about his integrity and who he hooks up with. mmmmmm
March 12th, 2008 at 10:20 am
I read the claims Mars made about a transisition period….six weeks whille they realigned the distribution system.
Gee….that makes so much sense….dogs and cats can go without food for six weeks…yeah right.
Mars is showing its contempt of the public with its spurious claims of miscommunication.
What idiots!!
March 13th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Didn’t they just have a food recall also. Maybe alot of people have stopped buying the stuff and they are running low on funds.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:10 am
The following e-mail is a copy of the e-mail sent to the Mars.com “Contact Us” representative :
———————————————————————————–
This is an e-mail from a visitor to the Mars.com Contact Us:
Date: 4/14/2008 1:54:51 AM
Subject: Product satisfaction question
First name: Mac
Last name: Mccall
E-mail: pbmccall@hotmail.com
Country: United States
Phone:
Message:
To the Mars Family! Shame on you !!! Bad decision … Interesting PR move… NOT GOOD! It would be nice to take any pet product that is imperfect and donate that instead of destroying it …. write that off as a deduction to cover some of the expenses…Now you have a Hot Potato that could have been avoided, a cost cutting decision by one of your accountants. This is what happens when you have marketing people not in the decision circle with the accountants! Relocate this executive to another position, it is obvious he does not know his ramifications of his decisions “and power position” results. Team work OK! Good Luck rebuilding you past Great reputation that is now more than tarnished! re: Attachment below: Residents Donate Pet Food To Animal Shelter After Mars Stop Donations Monday, March 10, 2008 South Carolina residents have chipped in to donate hundreds of bags of pet food to the Anderson County animal shelter. Mars, Inc., maker of Pedigree pet food, told the shelter it was ending gifts of pet food to their shelter. Mars, Inc. was the shelter’s main primary food supplier, and around 300 pets have been affected by this stop in donations. The shelter was running low on pet food and asked the community for help. Numerous people brought in bags of pet food, and some even braved bad weather to bring in their donations. The shelter manager said she is uncertain why Mars, Inc. decided to stop donating pet food, and unless the shelter can find another corporate sponsor, the shelter will need to rely on the community for help. She was also told that the decision to cut back on the food donation program was company wide and other shelters were affected. Shelter employee Bonnie Wulff said, “We’ve had a lot of people come in and they’re emotional as well, just a few people who’ve been teary eyed, just want to come in and donate. They care as much about ‘em as we do.†Source: WYFF4, WSPA Share or Email This Read more from this blogger
May 5th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
We have a shelter and we have received a check from pedigree at least once and I’m not sure if we did after the one time.
June 6th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
If you knew the facts, perhaps you wouldn’t be so hard on the company. They generously provided food for our shelter until recently, and their food donations allowed us to use money we had budgeted for food for spays and neuters instead. With the closing of many of their plants, and the loss of jobs for local residents, it seems a bit petty for us to say that the company isn’t doing enough. Without their help this past year, our small shelter would have been unable to spay/neuter almost 200 dogs.