We'll Never Forget: The 9/11 Mattress Ad Remembered And Explained

Another 9/11 anniversary is on our doorstep, and with it comes another round of debating and investigating why people make 9/11 memes. Know Your Meme covered this topic in 2017 in part because at the time, we were one year removed from one of the worst — and darkly funny — commercials in television history.

Here is the infamous 9/11 Mattress Ad that became an internet legend.

What Is The 9/11 Mattress Ad?

In September 2016, Miracle Mattress in San Antonio, Texas had an ill-fated idea to run a 9/11-themed promotional event, the same way a business might come up with a Christmas or Arbor Day sale (Walmart also had this idea in 2016 and caught heat for it, though they're probably thankful for Miracle Mattress one-upping them in spades).

The idea was that to commemorate 9/11, it would run a sale in which all mattresses were sold at a "twin" mattress price ("twin mattress," like "Twin Towers," of course). As the spokeswoman in the ad outlines, full, queen and king-size mattresses were all sold at a "twin price."

This alone would probably be outside the realm of good taste, but the icing on this terrible cake was the "joke" that played out in the commercial. Two "towers" of mattresses stand behind the employees of Miracle Mattress, and at the end, two gentlemen fall over and topple the mattress towers. The spokeswoman, Cherise Bonnano shrieks in horror before turning to the camera with a knowing smile and utters, "We'll never forget."

What Happened To Miracle Mattress?

Miracle Mattress was put through the wringer for the ill-conceived commercial, sparking national outrage so intense that the company indefinitely shut its doors (this only lasted for a week, and the store re-opened on September 16th, 2016).

The company's owner and the father of Cherise Bonnano, Mike Bonanno, stated the ad was made without his knowledge and was taken down immediately after it was first published — of course, as the saying goes, the internet is forever and the damage was done.

Cherise went on television to apologize for the commercial, saying tearfully, "We are love." She opened a blog recently, but the comments there are quite nasty and it only has one post.

It seems things have turned around, though, and the company has put the controversial ad behind them. Their Yelp page, once review-bombed in response to the ad, now has the store scored at a respectable 3.5 stars. The manager listed is "Cherise B."

For the full history of the 9/11 Mattress Ad Controversy, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.