A controversial ad from Callaway Golf that was made by Good Good Golf has caused a firestorm online for showing a male player shoving a female golfer to the ground
Callaway Golf has ended its ties with Good Good Golf.
Fallout from the controversial Callaway Golf ad made by Good Good Golf - featuring a male golfer shoving a female golfer to the ground after she attempts to use his driver - continues to ripple through the sports world.
Callaway $(CALY)$ announced Thursday afternoon it had cut all ties with Good Good Golf, "effective immediately."
"Over the last several days, we have listened and reflected deeply on the hurt and disappointment caused by the video we reposted. We heard from individuals who shared personal experiences related to violence against women, and their stories were powerful reminders that this issue touches the lives of far too many people," the statement read.
Since the ad debuted, retailers including Dick's Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy pulled Good Good items. Normally, those retailers have products including hats, golf polos and shirts on their websites.
Screenshot from a search on Dick's Sporting Good's online store.
Dick's Sporting Goods $(DKS)$ and Golf Galaxy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Good Good Golf sells apparel, but it also has a digital-media brand and YouTube channel that features golf challenges and lifestyle golf content. And that digital brand doesn't appear to be safe from the ad's fallout, either.
The Golf Channel postponed its scheduled Aug. 25 premiere date of the reality show "Big Break x Good Good" after one of its sponsors asked for its branding to be removed from the show. The show is now scheduled for release in September.
The controversial commercial reached the top levels of golf as PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp condemned the ad Tuesday, calling it "concerning" and "clearly not aligned with PGA Tour values."
Rolapp told a group of reporters that his team was "disappointed with what we saw," in the ad and made contact with Good Good.
He was noncommittal that the PGA would still plan to work with Good Good in the future, a critical statement as Good Good Golf is the title sponsor for a new PGA Tour event in Austin, Texas, this fall.
"I believe this could be damaging to the perception of golf. Not only was the content extremely offensive, but the timing was horrible as well," Justin Ehrlich, associate professor of sport analytics at Syracuse University, told MarketWatch. "The idea behind Big Break's revival is to bring the YouTube golf culture to the mainstream, and this ad is reinforcing a caricature that today's golf culture, including Good Good and Callaway, is trying to shed - namely, that golf is full of bro culture."
While several industry experts told MarketWatch that controversies over advertisements tend to fizzle out in the medium term, there's always a chance that damage to its brand could linger.
"It's pretty unlikely that a single online ad with limited reach causes long-term problems. Obviously, the Bud Light/Dylan Mulvaney debacle in 2023 is a massive counterexample, but in that case the damage to Budweiser was done by an extensive right-wing outrage machine that has no similar counterpart on the left that would be likely to damage Callaway," Victor Matheson, an economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross who specializes in sports, told MarketWatch.
Good Good founder Garrett Clark posted an eight-minute video on X on Wednesday where he said the online criticism about the ad was "very justified."
"Hopefully, you guys can forgive Good Good as well as myself for being a part of it. And hopefully we can move on and grow the women's side of golf because that is one of our huge, huge goals," Clark said at the end of the video.
-Weston Blasi
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