BLUE BONNET
A BUTTER ALTERNATIVE
FOR WARTIME AMERICA
Blue Bonnet margarine was started by Standard Brands in 1942. Blue Bonnet is well known for producing classic vegetable oil-based margarine and a variety of butter spreads. Though Blue Bonnet was created in New York City, it was named after the Texas state flower to give the brand a home-grown feeling. The iconic Blue Bonnet girl pictured on all of the products and advertisements was originally Jeni Freeland, who was picked by the company through a modeling agency. Jeni helped promote Blue Bonnet for over 25 years and even fought for the product to be colored yellow, as it was a pale grey color that was unappetizing to consumers.
THE MARGARINE THAT WON AMERICAN KITCHENS
Advertising campaigns emphasized the product's value, nutrition, and versatility, while the brand's most memorable slogan, "Everything's Better with Blue Bonnet on It!", helped make it one of the country's most well-known brands.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Blue Bonnet expanded their line to include stick margarine, whipped spreads, and most notably, its soft margarine that was spreadable right out of the refrigerator, which other brands could not do at the time. Blue Bonnet soon became a household staple, most commonly used for baking, and was acquired by Nabisco in 1981. Today, Blue Bonnet remains one of the longest-running margarine brands in the United States and continues to be a familiar name in American kitchens.