Budweiser’s One-Time 9/11 Tribute: Bowing Clydesdales at the Super Bowl

Budweiser aired a single, solemn 2002 Super Bowl commercial with no voiceover or jingle, showing a team of Clydesdales bowing toward the site of the World Trade Center as the screen read “We’ll never forget.” Filmed in New York with government clearance, it required approval from Congress and Mayor Giuliani, and featured a Clydesdale named Ringo. The ad aired less than five months after 9/11 and was pulled after that one airing, reportedly to keep the moment as a tribute rather than a commercial. A refreshed version marked the 20th anniversary in 2021, but the original remains a remembered one-off moment in advertising history.