Igloo Celebrates the Playmate Cooler’s 50th Anniversary With a Design Revival and Documentary

Out Today: A Special-Edition Playmate Collection and “The Birds & The Beers”, a Short Film About the Playmate’s Trailblazing 50-Year History

KATY, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the iconic Igloo Playmate cooler, and Igloo is celebrating by bringing back its popular Little Playmate design and premiering “The Birds & The Beers: A Playmate Origin Story”, a hilarious, documentary-style short film depicting the Playmate’s journey, from concept to becoming “America’s lunchbox” and the bestselling cooler design of all time. Igloo invites everyone to join the party at igloocoolers.com/playmate50th where The Little Playmate 50th Anniversary Collection is now available and “The Birds & The Beers” can be viewed.

“All of us at Igloo are in full party mode as we celebrate a huge moment in our brand’s history: The Playmate — the world’s most famous cooler — turns 50!” said Brian Garofalow, Chief Marketing Officer at Igloo. “We’re excited to share the story of the Playmate, from concept through tomorrow’s innovations, with our fans and collectors. Also, we couldn’t be happier to reintroduce the original Little Playmate with its push-button side design as a way for our consumers to join the party and own a piece of Igloo’s history. And these are just the first of several great surprises as we celebrate the Playmate throughout the year!”

In honor of the Playmate’s 50-year history, Igloo is bringing the out-of-production Little Playmate back in a big way. The Little Playmate was one of the most popular styles during the Playmate’s early years; it is a 7-quart personal cooler with the trademarked tent top, swivel lid and push-button on the side. Igloo is reviving this original design with The Little Playmate 50th Anniversary Collection. Featuring nine new, special-edition coolers with vibrant color combinations on each Little Playmate, this collection pays homage to the many colors of the Playmate that Igloo has released over 50 years.

Igloo is also sharing the Playmate’s rich history of becoming the world’s most famous cooler through a fun-filled, documentary-style short film “The Birds & The Beers: A Playmate Origin Story”. This film chronicles what originally led Igloo to create the Playmate cooler, its rise to pop-icon status through constant appearances in film and TV, earning its place as the bestselling cooler of all time, and all the most notable, exciting moments in between. Viewers will be taken on a visual adventure of the Playmate’s 50-year trailblazing journey through comedic storytelling of the animated Playmate Chilly Alexander Frost and his Uncle Max.

Watch “The Birds & The Beers” now at igloocoolers.com/playmate50th. Additionally, The Little Playmate 50th Anniversary Collection (with 7-quart capacity fitting up to nine 12-ounce cans) is available today at igloocoolers.com/littleplaymate, while supplies last.

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About Igloo:

Born from a modest metalworking shop back in 1947, Igloo has been instrumental in redefining how we live, work and play. What began with bringing clean water to the worksite quickly moved into super-functional, best-in-class ice chests. Igloo products made the family outdoor recreation movement of the 20th century possible. Suddenly, taking your kids camping on the weekend became easy and cross-country road trips became a summer vacation staple.

As we approach our next century, Igloo is 1,200 employees strong. We are proud to call—a 1.8-million-square-foot, three-building facility in—Katy, Texas home. With more than 500 products sold at thousands of retailers around the globe, we can confidently call ourselves the number one cooler manufacturer in the world.

And through it all we haven’t lost sight of our original goal—to create products that enable the pursuit of happiness (however you define it). That’s why we’re still working hard every day to innovate, create and make it easier for you to get out, work hard and play even harder.