Blue Bonnet was a small, independent margarine vendor until 1943, when it was purchased by Standard Brands and turned into a national brand with the slogan: "Everything's Better With Blue Bonnet On It!" In the early years, restrictive laws in much of the United States and Canada made it very difficult to sell margarine.

To protect dairy producers from competing with cheaper vegetable-oil-based spreads, margarine often was subject to excessive taxes, or forbidden from being colored yellow like butter.