Good Good and Bad Things

I am not an expert in public relations or crisis management, but I think it’s a good rule of thumb that if your CEO releases a statement of apology at 1:14 am, things are not going well for your brand. This is the world Callaway finds itself in this week.

Early Tuesday morning, Callaway CEO Chip Brewer felt the need to apologize (several times) for the recent driver commercial that Good Good Golf — the group of YouTube golf personalities who recently partnered with Callaway — released on social media. The commercial, in case you’re not terminally on-line like I am, began with a scene where one of Good Good’s main personalities (co-founder Garrett Clark) knocked a female member of the channel (Alexis Miestowski) to the ground when she attempted to touch his new driver.

It did not go over well, as one might expect. It was quickly taken down, but the damage was done, as nothing can ever truly be erased from the internet. The video is still easily findable on X and in other places.

There are plenty of controversies that exist mostly online, but this one understandably mushroomed into the real world. Group chats and Slack threads lit up with disgust and the heat quickly intensified. Good Good tried to quell the controversy with a bizarrely worded apology that felt ChatGPT-inspired, declaring that the skit “ultimately depicted actions that are not aligned with our values as a brand." But that didn’t stop the story from spreading outside the golf media ecosystem. The commercial was soon the subject of stories in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, two places a golf brand never wants to end up when trying to do damage control. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp even got a question about it during his Tuesday press conference at the Tour Championship. He offered a couple pointed remarks when asked if he felt Good Good had taken accountability for the video.

“I think initially no,” Rolapp said. “I think what we saw was concerning. It's clearly not aligned with PGA Tour values. We take it very seriously. I think their initial response was disappointing. It was a bit defensive and late, but I think their responses are getting better. We've seen some things this morning, we've had some conversations with them so we'll continue to monitor and work with them going forward, but no we were disappointed with what we saw."

Late on Tuesday, Golf Channel released a statement saying it was postponing the premiere of Big Break x Good Good for a week because one of the show’s sponsors asked to be removed from the series. The impact on Good Good’s brand has been considerable.

I’m not particularly interested in defending Good Good, but I think it should be obvious they don’t endorse or condone violence against women. The skit — amateurish as it was — was trying to parody the movie “Obsession,” not offer any commentary on the hot-button topic of gender. I think they screwed up because they were out of their depth, attempting a joke they didn’t have the experience or the intelligence to pull off. I’m sure that sounds harsh, but it’s a fair summary of how we arrived here. Good Good didn’t become a multi-million-dollar brand by doing Saturday Night Live skits, they did it by playing light-hearted competitions on YouTube. There is a lot to be said in media for knowing your strengths and weaknesses. There is a reason you won’t see me — a burly hack who rarely breaks 80 — giving swing advice on YouTube.

As I stated earlier this year when it was announced Good Good was partnering with the PGA Tour to host a fall event, I think they’re mostly polite kids who have a positive impact on the world of golf. I’m a little old for their content and their clothes, but that’s fine. If you’re a man in your 40s, nearly everything in golf caters to your interest and your style, so welcoming a younger demographic to the game that will eventually become the lifeblood of the sport is essential. It’s not Good Good’s fault that the controversy became the latest gristle in our endless culture war, with the usual collection of idiots insisting anyone offended by the ad must be soft or woke. But I suspect one reason the brand was slow to respond is they covet the young bro demographic and know it has fueled their growth. It’s an opportunity for Good Good to be more aware of the influence they have within the world of golf, and how quickly it can be squandered. It’s hard for women to feel welcome in plenty of golf’s male-dominated spaces, and to their credit, Good Good has actually tried to combat this by hiring female personalities for their channel.

I’m a big believer that we need to leave room for young people to mess up and learn from those mistakes. Once upon a time, I was an occasional dumbass too. I’m eternally thankful for all the editors and mentors who put up guardrails and saved me from myself.

I’m not sure Callaway deserves the same grace here. It’s important that Brewer admitted the video was approved by Callaway prior to it being posted, but it’s no less baffling. It’s not like Callaway is a new brand that’s trying to find its feet in the complicated world of golf commerce. Brewer has been Callaway’s CEO for 14 years. Prior to that, he ran Adams Golf. I think there is zero chance he saw the ad before it ran, but surely he has experienced people beneath him who did. In this instance, they were supposed to be the adults in the room. Even if you think we’re too easily offended these days, this was (at best) a kernel of an idea, the kind of pitch that would get you thrown out of Don Draper’s office for laziness. I’ve come across plenty of people who insist they weren’t offended by the driver ad, but I’ve yet to come across anyone who thought the ad was funny or clever or well-made.

Was Callaway so desperate for cultural relevance that they ceded all creative control in this partnership to a bunch of kids in their 20s who — whatever you think of their content — have no experience in advertising and very limited experience in business? I suspect that’s a big part of it.

In the end, that’s almost as embarrassing as the ad.