![]() The drink was originally released back in 1987 to go hand-in-marketing-hand with the movie franchise’s animated spin-off. “Sony Pictures was extremely enthusiastic about bringing it back for this special occasion, and the timing of the upcoming Ghostbusters film made this the exact right time.” “Hi-C Ecto Cooler fueled a pop-culture phenomenon that is well remembered and beloved by fans to this day,” Charles Torrey, Coca-Cola’s vice president, said in the company’s statement. Now, according to an official announcement from Coca-Cola, we can confirm that the slime-green, citrus-flavored juice will be hitting store shelves once again, in large part due to Paul Feig’s forthcoming Ghostbusters reboot, which stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Chris Hemsworth. Not bad for an odd green beverage that tasted like flat tangelos.After Coca-Cola re-registered the famous trademark of Hi-C’s Ghostbusters tie-in drink Ecto Cooler back in September of 2015 and a mysterious prototype can hit eBay back at the end of February, speculation began to swirl about the return of the once-popular beverage. (I love that even with all of the intrigue surrounding Ecto Cooler’s more modern history, there’s still so much prehistory left to uncover. All it needed was Slimer!ĬONCLUSION: Coca-Cola may have tinkered with the taste, but we wouldn’t have had Ecto Cooler without Citrus Cooler Drink. That ad would’ve been filmed just before Ecto Cooler’s arrival, and if you look close, you’ll notice that Citrus Cooler’s can design was almost a dead-on match for Ecto Cooler’s original labels. As much as it’s been championed as one of the premiere junk foods of the 1980s, it was barely even a part of that decade!)Ĭitrus Cooler Drink even eked out a rare television appearance in 1989, turning up in a local ad for Eagle Food Centers. (Yes, Ecto Cooler debuted in the summer of ‘89. (…which may explain why so few people my age have any recollection of a “green Hi-C” before Slimer sauntered into frame.)Ĭitrus Cooler was still being advertised in supermarket circulars as late as 1989, mere months before Ecto Cooler’s debut. My working theory: At some point in the ‘80s, it either became wholly regional or available by special order only. If you pore over the many Hi-C commercials on YouTube, you’ll not find one that mentions Citrus Cooler. I’ve found evidence to support the claim that it existed throughout the ‘80s, but by then, it was clearly not one of Hi-C’s “favored flavors.” What’s murkier is the more recent history of Citrus Cooler. In that world, “green orange juice” hardly seemed odd. If you’ve ever skimmed through cookbooks from the ‘60s or ‘70s, you know that old ideas about fancy food are best described as “strange and gaudy.” People would mix three types of meat into the rough shapes of human heads, and then suspend ‘em in tomato gelatin. At the time of its debut, weird green juice blends were actually in fashion, with several different beverage companies offering up their own versions. Still, there’s an undeniable lineage here, and it’s impossible to look at Citrus Cooler as anything but the Goldeen to Ecto Cooler’s Seaking.Ĭitrus Cooler debuted in 1969, and remained a fairly popular flavor throughout the 1970s. Hi-C also once had a totally separate tangerine flavor, so it’s possible that our dear Ecto was a weird amalgam of those two beverages. I can confirm that Citrus Cooler was an orange/lemon blend for at least a good long while, forgoing the tangerine additive that made Ecto Cooler so distinct. Now, was it exactly the same as Ecto Cooler? Until I find a label from a late ‘80s version of Citrus Cooler, that’s impossible to know. ![]() Yes, long before Ecto Cooler, there was Hi-C Citrus Cooler Drink. Stock up while it lasts!īut here’s something that most of you don’t know: Ecto Cooler’s termination marks the end of a Hi-C flavor that can be traced back as far as the 1960s! ![]() Before Ecto Cooler, there was Hi-C Citrus Cooler.Īs most of you know, Ecto Cooler has retired again, with the remaining stock from its summer run now being liquidated at dollar stores and discount shops.
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