Oleo Wars

Reprint from the pages of "Hoard's Dairyman" magazine issued to influence public opinion in Wisconsin where the sale of colored margarine was prohibited by law 

Once upon a time margarine was illegal in Wisconsin. 

That’s right. For over 70 years, Wisconsin banned the production and sale of buttery-yellow oleomargarine and we were the last state in the nation to uphold oleo bans.  As a child my dad and his brother would periodically team-up and make a run across the Illinois border where there was  a thriving business selling cases of margarine to Wisconsinites  who would drive back over the border with trunk loads of bootleg oleo. 

59 years ago on July 1, 1967, the sale and production of yellow oleomargarine was finally legalized in Wisconsin.  

Oleo was seen as a substitute for butter and gained popularity during the butter shortage of WWII. Dairy distributors didn’t like this imitation-butter one bit, which led to Wisconsin upholding oleo bans for more than seven decades.

Nevertheless, Wisconsin state law still strictly regulates butter and margarine in restaurants and it is a criminal offense to substitute margarine for butter unless a customer specifically requests it.

The law on the books is Wisconsin Statute 97.18(4), which explicitly states:

"The serving of colored oleomargarine or margarine at a public eating place as a substitute for table butter is prohibited unless it is ordered by the customer."

 Learn more about the oleo wars here.