Rejoice, ’80s kids! One of the most iconic juice boxes of all time has finally returned to the shelves of major retailers such as Walmart . Coca-Cola’s lime green colored, citrus-flavored Hi-C Ecto Cooler began appearing in stores for a limited time in early June. The release coincides with the debut of the new Ghostbusters movie, which arrives in theaters July 15 amid respectable reviews of the trailer. The 10% juice product, which was discontinued in 2001 amid a consumer shift to healthier drinks for children, is pretty much similar to the version that gained a cult following when it launched in 1987 around the original Ghostbusters product craze. A spokeswoman for Coca-Cola tells TheStreet the formula has been simplified from the original version to contain one sweetener, high-fructose corn syrup, and fewer ingredients so that it maintains the correct amount of tartness. Hi-C Ecto Cooler is being sold in boxes and in 6-packs and 12-packs of 11.5-ounce aluminum cans. The cans don a little magic that was unavailable when the drink was introduced to coincide with the first movie’s release in the late 1980s. The latest cans are printed with thermal ink that turns a shade of ‘slime green’ when the product inside is cold. That’s a homage to Ghostbusters’ neon-green ghost, Slimer, which is absent the product’s packaging. While those kids born in the 1980s may be familiar with Ecto-Cooler and the obsession with all things Ghostbusters, the reality is that a generation of those born after 1990 have no clue of the phenomena. Not only have they grown up in a period of bottled water being packed in their brown bag lunch, but there hasn’t been a new Ghostbusters movie since 1989. So, TheStreet put some Hi-C Ecto Cooler into the hands of its summer interns to gauge their reaction. This much became very clear: the latest Hi-C Ecto Cooler may not gain the same cult following as the original. TheStreet’s Brian Sozzi reports from New York.
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