Good Good 💩 The Bed

Violence doesn’t sell. It doesn’t belong in advertising, it doesn’t belong in golf, and it sure as hell shouldn’t be used as a punchline to sell a driver.

And yet, that was apparently the big idea behind the now-infamous Good Good and Callaway video: Garrett Clark shoves female golfer Alexis Miestowski to the ground for reaching toward his golf club, then stands over her and warns her not to touch his new driver.

Who watched that and thought, Perfect! post it?

This wasn’t a rogue comment made during a livestream or an unfortunate clip taken out of context. It was a produced advertisement. Someone came up with the concept. People agreed to it. They filmed it, edited it, added branding, reviewed the final cut, and published it. Callaway has since acknowledged that it had final approval of the ad. That makes the breakdown in judgment almost more troubling than the video itself. Front Office Sports

What on earth made anyone believe that anger, intimidation, and violence against a woman would make people want to buy a golf club?

The explanation, that the video was intended as a spoof inspired by the movie Obsession, doesn’t rescue it. If an audience needs a postmortem to understand the joke, the joke didn’t work. More importantly, parody doesn’t absolve a brand from considering what it is actually putting on the screen.

Golf already has enough work to do shedding its reputation as an exclusionary boys’ club. Using violence against a woman to market equipment doesn’t make the game look youthful, irreverent, or disruptive. It makes the industry look embarrassingly out of touch.

Both companies apologized, but by then the damage was done. Callaway ended its relationship with Good Good and committed $1 million to organizations working to prevent violence against women. Good Good stepped away from its title sponsorship of a PGA Tour event, and the fallout spread to its television and retail relationships. Associated Press

People love to say that any press is good press. That’s usually said by people who aren’t watching years of credibility, and a hell of a lot of money, evaporate because nobody in the approval chain had the courage or common sense to say, “This is a terrible idea.”

Good Good built its brand by making golf feel younger, looser, and more accessible. That influence came with responsibility. Its audience doesn’t just include grown men who might recognize a film reference. It includes kids and young golfers who take cues from the personalities they follow.

This wasn’t edgy. It wasn’t funny. And it wasn’t a minor social-media misstep.

Good Good shit the bed and Callaway helped tuck in the sheets.