The beer company had to get approval from several people, including members of Congress and then-New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. It had to work out the logistics of getting Budweiser’s iconic Clydesdale horses to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and into Battery Park.

But they pulled it off and the result is one of the most touching commercials ever made. It only aired once, in 2011, so Budweiser wouldn’t financially profit off the tragedy. A previous version of the commercial features snow on the ground and also aired once, during the 2002 Super Bowl.

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Austin Walters died from an overdose in 2021 after taking a Xanax pill laced with fentanyl, his father said. A new law named after Austin and aimed at preventing deaths from fentanyl has resulted in its first convictions in Georgia, prosecutors said. (Family photo)

Credit: Family photo