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Ecto Cooler: Its Shady Past and Mysterious Disappearance

September 23, 2010 by Chris Durso

Anyone who grew up in the 80s probably had Ecto Cooler in their lunchbox at one time or another. Some may have even used the toxic-green beverage as currency — conducting lopsided lunchroom trades with the kid who wasn’t allowed to have sugar.

Regardless of the juice’s hypnotic and addictive properties, the backstory of Ecto Cooler is intriguing to say the least. And, the fact that it was marketed as orange/tangerine-flavored, but was fluorescent green in color, isn’t even the strangest thing about it.

Quick History

In 1986 — trying to suckle the last drops from the Ghostbusters teat — an animated series titled The Real Ghostbusters was created. Knowing full well that the best way to market to kids is to get them sugar-high — Ecto Cooler was created as a product tie-in to the series.

The Result

Ecto Cooler was an immediate and smashing success. Although it was only supposed to last as long as the series, it endured for a decade after the show’s cancellation. However, the original marketing strategy was rather sneaky, and mind-numbingly lazy.

The Ecto Conspiracy

If we look back a bit further, there was once a Hi-C product called Citrus Cooler. Apologies for lack of photo evidence, but it appears to have been systematically destroyed to thwart the conspiracy theorists. Nonetheless, Citrus Cooler did exist — that was until some marketing dolts needed a quick and easy gimmick to sell their cartoon.

The pitch was simple — place the cute green ghost ‘Slimer‘ on the box, change ‘Citrus’ to ‘Ecto,’ conveniently forget that Citrus Cooler ever existed, product tie-in achieved. And because we are all suckers for packaging, the farce continued into the next decade. The problem was, this new generation of juice box drinkers would have no idea what a Ghostbuster was.

Fearing that Slimer had overstayed his welcome — and in another swift and lazy move — Hi-C did away with Ecto Cooler altogether. Or, at least it’s what they wanted us to think.

The identical formula, in all its neon green glory, was about to be repackaged yet again as “Shoutin’ Orange Tangergreen” — even though Hi-C would deny that it was the same formula. Some conspiracy theorists however, would not rest until the mystery was solved.

photo: X-Entertainment

Although the Hi-C drinking public should have been outraged, at least the name “Shoutin’ Orange Tangergreen” finally addressed its contradictory flavor and color combination — even though it now had the dumbest product name in recorded history.

It all came full circle in 2007, when Shoutin’ Orange Tangergreen was no longer worthy of the title. It was discontinued and renamed… wait for it… ‘Crazy Citrus Cooler.’

And, like most products that Foodiggity features on A Dose of Ephemera, Ecto Cooler has a cult following on Facebook, and unsurprisingly lobbies for the product’s return.

UPDATE: They’re bringing it back!!

Filed Under: A Dose of Ephemera, Bloggity Tagged With: ephemera, ghostbusters, hi-c, soft drink

Comments

  1. Adam Steinberg says

    July 28, 2017 at 12:42 pm

    The old-school SEO in the trackback section must be why a 7 year old article that even in its update fails to mention the demise of Ecto Cooler’s relaunch at the end of 2016. I would hate to think that Coca-Cola would exaggerate the cult following in order to use forced scarcity to make major returns off a limited run while producing enough stock to be able to sell the excess on the collectors’ market. They may have murdered a few people in the past, but limiting our supply of ecto cooler would be unconscionable even for them.

  2. Shaena says

    February 19, 2016 at 12:06 am

    Now, if these companies would stop putting that toxic, crap tasting artificial crap they call sweetener in every damned thing, we’d be golden. Just sayin, when one ingredient is sugar, you’re all set. You don’t need 3 more that are long-term toxic and can mimic MS symptoms and cause organ failure.

  3. Connor says

    April 19, 2015 at 9:37 pm

    Guys, my dad was behind the rebranding from Citrus Cooler to Ecto-Cooler. The short story is the company wanted to kill off Citrus Cooler because they couldn’t figure out how to market a green tangerine drink, but he suggested they tie it in with Ghostbusters instead, expecting it to only last about a year.

  4. sofi says

    November 1, 2014 at 1:15 pm

    I love HI c juices, me and my family always enjoyed them as.kids growing up,they should keep them on.the market and ignore the b.s. because someone ALWAYS has something negative to say when your buisness is doing good Anyways.!!

  5. Me , just me says

    October 28, 2014 at 2:17 pm

    jesus, a conspiracy about fruit punch? hardly a worthy subject… now if it was killing people of something fine, but a flavor that changed it’s branding? wow, your life is at rock bottom

  6. EgiaMusic says

    May 22, 2013 at 10:55 pm

    Found an image for Citrus cooler.

    https://www.retroland.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/hi_c_master.jpg

  7. klaeyz says

    May 3, 2013 at 4:45 pm

    im grown up in thailand. we have same but shrekto cooler. still has it, never heard of ghostbusters
    https://imgur.com/lbPpWkw

  8. Chris Durso says

    May 29, 2012 at 4:23 pm

    … with The Coz nonetheless. Nice find.

  9. Mike says

    May 29, 2012 at 4:18 pm

    Here is evidence of Citrus Cooler: https://theimaginaryworld.com/pre307.jpg

  10. Kym says

    September 29, 2010 at 6:06 am

    Haha perhaps chris! I was curious so I had to do some super sleuthing. I know of a lot of retro type websites that have weird things like that, but I’ll admit i found it through google images, lol.

  11. Chris Durso says

    September 26, 2010 at 11:27 pm

    Kym, nice find. Perhaps Hi-C is easing up on their iron-fisted secrecy to appease the conspiracy theorists… It’s like the JFK of fruit juices.

  12. Kym says

    September 26, 2010 at 7:11 pm

    i found this in 2.5 seconds, lol. citrus cooler everyone.

    https://theimaginaryworld.com/prod53.jpg

    &

    https://www.theimaginaryworld.com/pre307.jpg

  13. Chris Durso says

    September 23, 2010 at 2:18 pm

    Sean… I am aware of the final chapter, I will consider adding it in. Thanks.

  14. Seanicus says

    September 23, 2010 at 11:18 am

    This is incomplete. You failed to mention the move from Shouting Orange Tangreen to Crazy Citrus Cooler, which was finally discontinued in 2007. It was delicious, though, and we mourn the death of Ecto Cooler.

Trackbacks

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  2. Episode 20 – Novelty Food Items – Mt. Rushmore Podcast says:
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  6. Hi-C might bring back Ecto Cooler for the new Ghostbusters movie! -RocketNews says:
    December 1, 2015 at 11:46 am

    […] Although there’s no official sales numbers from Hi-C available, Shoutin’ Orange Tangerine must not have sold as well as Ecto Cooler because it got a name change to “Crazy Citrus Cooler” in 2006, then was discontinued entirely in 2007. […]

  7. Hi-C might bring back Ecto Cooler for the new Ghostbusters movie! - GeekMag says:
    December 1, 2015 at 10:54 am

    […] Although there’s no official sales numbers from Hi-C available, Shoutin’ Orange Tangerine must not have sold as well as Ecto Cooler because it got a name change to “Crazy Citrus Cooler” in 2006, then was discontinued entirely in 2007. […]

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  10. look here says:
    October 21, 2014 at 4:13 am

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    Ecto Cooler: Its Shady Past and Mysterious Disappearance | Foodiggity.com

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    […] pours out a really vibrant green color, not too different from the almost-defunct Hi-C Ecto Cooler (another period favorite). If there’s one thing that kids dig, it’s a drink in a […]

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    […] Ecto-Cooler was essentially the same thing as “Shoutin‘ Orange Tangerine” but we liked it more because we could say “ecto-cooler” and associate it with Ghostbusters. And it was disturbingly green. […]

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    […] Walter Peck.  A movie theme that was NUMBER ONE for three weeks in the US.  And maybe, JUST MAYBE Ecto Cooler will come back out (but probably not).  God Bless […]

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  19. Harold Ramis Remembered | the dissected frog says:
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  20. Brownie Batter Dip | Eat Your Tarte Out | Baking, cooking and general shenanigans. says:
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  21. Episode 314: A Logical Explanation | Dark Shadows Every Day says:
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    […] be physical manifestations of Sarah’s 18th century possessions, possibly constructed out of weapons-grade Ecto Cooler. Sarah can leave these objects behind, and then absorb them again when she takes them […]

  22. Cooking with Hot Nerd Girl: Ambrosia | HotNerdGirl.com says:
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    […] that is known for being pretty potent. I like that it’s bright green, it reminds me of Ecto Cooler aka Slimer Juice.  But, you know, for […]

  23. Drizly Halloween: The 4 Most Bewitching Halloween Cocktails | Drizly Blog says:
    October 30, 2013 at 2:39 pm

    […] of the 80s, you might remember a juice drink featuring everyone’s favorite sort-of friendly ghost from Ghostbusters. That drink was green and citrusy, with a color that was nowhere near real. This drink is like […]

  24. CtK 20: Saving the Tots | Corrupting the Kids says:
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  25. friday favorites. | says:
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  27. For The World’s Enjoyment: My Day Off With Work Drugs | The Key says:
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    […] Unlike its counterparts Capri Sun (which promoted a pouch-lancing beach bum lifestyle) and Hi-C’s Ecto Cooler (which invited too many questions about what becomes of juice drinks in the afterlife), Fruitopia, […]

  28. Yummy and Apparitiony! Learn How to Make Your Own Ecto-Cooler | Blackrice Bran says:
    September 7, 2011 at 10:14 am

    […] in one form or another, for more than a decade. Sadly, Ecto-Cooler (and its drinkable descendants) only survives in our memories these days, so we can’t share with our geeklets as they discover Mssrs. Venkman, Stantz, and […]

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