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Good Good Golf Fallout Continues Amid Backlash Over Controversial Ad
27
Aug
Aug
The fallout continues for Good Good Golf in the wake of a controversial branded ad for Callaway’s new Quantum driver. The since-deleted spot sparked outrage after it showed the company’s co-founder and GM, Garrett Clark, shoving employee Alexis Miestowski to the ground as she’s about to reach into his bag for the driver. He then leans over her and says, “Do not touch my new driver.”
The ad dropped on Friday, Aug. 21, four days before Golf Channel brought back the reality TV competition series, Big Break, after more than a decade. Golf Channel partnered with Good Good for season 24 of the popular series. But in the wake of the backlash, Golf Channel pulled Tuesday’s premiere, pushing it to Sept. 1. According to multiple reports, the delay was necessary to scrub one of the show’s sponsors’ branding from the series. It was later reported that title sponsor Golf Galaxy, a subsidiary of Dick’s Sporting Goods, made the request.
What’s more, Dick’s Sporting Goods pulled Good Good products from its shelves. The PGA Tour Superstore also followed suit.
It should be noted that Men’s Journal published a feature on Big Break co-host Wells Adams on Monday, Aug. 24. The lengthy interview was conducted via Zoom on Tuesday, Aug. 18.
At 9:59 a.m. PST on Monday, Aug. 24, Men’s Journal reached out to a rep at Golf Channel’s parent company, Versant Media, asking whether the network planned to postpone the season 24 premiere amid Good Good’s controversy. Men’s Journal never heard back, and Golf Channel ultimately did yank the Aug. 26 premiere.
Callaway, an LPGA Tour partner, released a statement over the weekend saying, “We are disappointed by the content that was posted and are appreciative of Good Good for addressing this. We look forward to working together to ensure a more inclusive space in golf.”
But while Good Good pulled the ad and apologized — followed by Clark’s own apology in a 9-minute video — the fledgling media company continues to face scrutiny. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp was asked on Tuesday if he thought the apology was sufficient. He said, “I think initially no.”
There’s also no guarantee that Good Good will remain a title sponsor for the PGA Tour’s new fall event (Nov. 12-15) at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas.
“It’s a bit of a fluid situation,” Rolapp said, before adding, “We’ll continue to monitor the situation and see how it develops.”
Good Good’s marketing blunder has opened the door for female-owned golf brands to fill the void and give a voice to the growing female golf fanbase. Zaleas Golf Company, for example, posted a snippet of a female golfer picking up a fellow golfer from the ground and asking, “Are you okay?”
Zaleas also says that from now until Sept. 8, 20 percent of its online sales will be donated to a local domestic violence shelter. In his 9-minute video, Clark had shared, “This is not at all what we stand for … I want everyone to know that I don’t support DV [domestic violence] or abuse or any of that to any, of any kind.”
Good Good CEO Matt Kendrick said in an internal memo that the video was intended to be a parody of the movie Obsession, but “the execution missed the mark.”
The ad, crisis communications expert Patrick Riccards says, is “another example of creating content with a narrow view, without bothering to think of the larger audience.”
He added, “Every brand is now in constant pursuit of that viral moment, where their ad is going to run on a constant loop on social media, and they get millions of free impressions for being edgy and for breaking through the white noise. Callaway certainly managed to break through some of the white noise for its ad, but for all of the wrong reasons.”
