Callaway Should Have Known Better
Callaway and Good Good Golf Collaboration Advertisement Sparks Online Discourse
This August, Callaway Golf released an ad in collaboration with Good Good Golf promoting their new branded clubs, and fans are not happy. The ad features Good Good Golf CEO pushing fellow creator Alexis Miestowski to the ground while she reaches for a Callaway x Good Good driver, saying, “Do not touch my new driver.” This video has caused many different reactions from audiences, with most people saying that the ad promoted physical violence against females.
As a result, Callaway severed ties with Good Good, who has had products cut from many retail stores and has faced the most backlash. However, it’s clear Callaway is at fault despite not receiving as much backlash.
Callaway, the billion-dollar golf company, was responsible for greenlighting the ad to release to the public. With their 28 thousand workers worldwide and corporate prowess, Callaway released the ad despite the message that it would ultimately send to viewers. Advertisements have the possibility to sway viewers to buy or not to buy a product, so the marketing team of this multi-billion dollar company should recognize the message that the ad could send. Looking back to other scrutinized ads, such as the American Eagle “I have good jeans” ad, it seems that corporate businesses just don't learn their lesson.
Although Good Good Golf had made the video and had greenlighted it on their end, Calloway had the ultimate say. Not only by allowing the ad to be released do they put themselves under scrutiny, but they also put another company at risk. Additionally, after putting out Good Good’s ad, Callaway let them take the fall for it while they stayed relatively unaffected.
After the ad was taken down, Good Good faced immediate consequences. Callaway ended their three-year long partnership, and the company has since fallen apart. Even the CEO of Callaway has tried to shift the blame solely to the marketing and internal PR team without admitting personal responsibility for the oversight. The most “damage” that has been done to the company is their one million dollar donation to charities, helping women who have experienced domestic violence and the threat of customers boycotting their products. How effective would boycotting Callaway be, knowing it owns many different businesses and products? Because Callaway owns Top Golf, OGIO, Toptracer and many other golf-oriented companies, it is almost impossible for golfers to avoid Callaway.
Good Good Golf has taken too much of the blame, even though Callaway had just as much to do with the oversight. Like with the American Eagle ad, corporate companies should be held accountable, and viewers are the only ones who can do that. Instead of just boycotting and hoping for the best, viewers should hold companies like Callaway accountable through social media campaigning, demanding transparency and not letting the company’s involvement in the ad fade into the shadows of Good Good Golf’s downfall.
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