For children of the 1980s, their memories of Ghostbusters have as much to do with Bull Murray and Dan Aykroyd in jumpsuits as a curious green beverage that contained 10 percent fruit juice and no preservatives whatsoever. That, of course, was Hi-C Ecto Cooler, which was first introduced to grocery store shelves in the late 1980s to promote The Real Ghostbusters animated series, along with the subsequent Ghostbusters II movie. The packaging featured pictures of that notably green fruit the orange, along with a drawing of the animated Slimer from The Real Ghostbusters.

While an adult might find the notion of drinking a concoction derived from ghostly excretions disgusting, children literally gobbled it up, and the beverage outlasted The Real Ghostbusters by years. Hi-C continued selling Ecto Cooler into the early 2000s, before they finally rebranded the drink without the ghost and slime connotations as “Shoutin' Orange Tangergreen.” But any time Ghostbusters returns to the pop culture forefront, fans beg for Ecto Cooler to make a comeback too. When Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters came out in 2016, Hi-C (which is owned by The Coca-Cola Company) released a new batch of Ecto Cooler timed to the movie. Demand was so great that fans were supposedly paying $100 or more for 12-packs of the cans. (Some are still available on eBay now, five years later, although at this point you might turn green if you drink them.)

This week, there’s yet another Ghostbusters relaunch, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. And so, as predictably as Ivo Shandor’s love of Gozer, Ecto Cooler is returning yet again. This time, though, it won’t be for sale and will only be part of “an exclusive commemorative drop.” That’s at least according to the video posted to the Ghostbusters and Hi-C instsagram accounts:

The trailer is clearly inspired by the vintage 1989 Ecto Cooler commercial.

The details are pretty vague, but apparently if you tweet at Hi-C on Twitter some green hearts they might send you some? Or at least let you know how to get some when it’s available? If we get more information, we’ll let you know.

Why is it so hard to just make enough new Ecto Cooler for everyone? They’ve known this movie was coming out for months and months — it was delayed for about a year because of Covid. They should have the Ecto Cooler stockpiled by now. It should be bursting out of the top fo the warehouse like when they shut down the containment grid at the end of Ghostbusters 1. Oh well.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife opens in theaters this Friday.

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