‘Ghostbusters’ Fans Be Warned: Those Old Ecto-Coolers Are Exploding

Possibly because Dan Aykroyd needed several new beach houses, back in the 1980s, there was seemingly no end to Ghostbusters-branded merchandise. There were toy lines, T-shirts and at least one official Ghostbusters ceiling fan. 

But the highlight of the Ghostbusters cash-grab for many young fans was Hi-C’s Ecto-Cooler, which tasted like delicious sugary fake-fruit juice, but was marketed to kids as if it were the paranormal secretions of whatever the hell Slimer was. 

Sure, the beverage was just a pre-existing drink called “Citrus Cooler” with the Ghostbusters logo slapped on it, but it made everyone happy at the time. Fans are so nostalgic for their Ecto-Cooler days that the drink has been re-released to the public on multiple occasions to coincide with newer Ghostbusters movies, including the 2016 female-led reboot. Even the toxic fans who sent hate mail to a children’s hospital over the movie had to admit that the Ecto-Cooler tasted pretty damn good.

One Illinois deli even decided to serve their own homemade Ecto-Cooler on tap, copyright laws be damned!

But now, as if the world didn’t already have enough to worry about, your old Ecto-Coolers may be on the verge of blowing up — literally.

Due to the product’s scarcity, many fans have been hoarding the 2016 line of Ecto-Coolers and selling them on eBay. Sure, they’re pretty old by now, but that hasn’t stopped some folks from donning Ghostbusters jumpsuits and risking their digestive health to taste the forbidden nectar that is expired Ecto-Cooler.

But according to Ghostbusters News, the host of the Extraplasm Podcast “recently discovered that all of his unopened cans were showing signs of internal pressure build-up, becoming noticeably harder to squeeze,” meaning that they “may eventually burst” on their own, and are already exploding “like seltzer bottles” if they’re opened. 

While Ecto-Coolers aren’t carbonated, each drink contains a whopping “10 percent juice blend” and “that small amount of real juice is enough to ferment over time.” Fermentation creates CO2, which builds up inside the container until things go haywire, not unlike a certain unlicensed containment unit.

Let this be a lesson to children’s beverage companies: Always make sure to put zero percent juice in your juice products.