09/11/2026
On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, we look back at one of the most moving tributes ever shown on television.
Just five months after the attacks, Budweiser aired a commercial titled “Respect” during Super Bowl ###VI on February 3, 2002.
It contained no dialogue. There were no actors delivering emotional speeches and no conventional attempt to advertise a product.
Instead, viewers watched the famous Clydesdales leave a snow-covered farm and begin a solemn journey towards New York City. They travelled through quiet streets, crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and eventually reached a snowy field overlooking lower Manhattan.
There, with the altered skyline visible in the distance, the eight horses slowly lowered their heads together in a silent bow.
The screen then faded to four simple words:
“We’ll never forget.”
The original advertisement was deliberately broadcast nationally only once. Its restraint made it extraordinarily powerful, and the response was overwhelming. Viewers across America were moved by how eight horses, without a single spoken word, seemed to express the grief and remembrance of an entire nation.
The commercial was later revisited with updated anniversary versions, but the snowy original from 2002 remains the one many people remember most vividly.
Twenty-five years after the attacks, the Clydesdales’ silent gesture continues to move new generations—and its message remains unchanged.
We will never forget.
