A controversial and since-deleted video ad for a driver developed by Good Good and Callaway Golf was “concerning,” PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp says.
Rolapp also said the initial response to it was “disappointing,” and that “it’s a bit of a fluid situation” in answering a question about the status of Good Good, a YouTube content group, in the Good Good Championship, a PGA Tour event set for Nov. 12-15.
Rolapp’s comments, coming Tuesday ahead of the Tour Championship, were his first publicly since the release of the ad and the fallout from it. In a portion of the video, Good Good’s Garrett Clark runs toward Alexis Miestowski, another member of Good Good, after she reaches for the club, and he pushes her. Miestowski then screams before Clark stands over her and says: “Do not touch my new driver.”
The video has been heavily criticized on social media, and while it’s no longer on Good Good and Callaway platforms, it continues to be circulated. On Saturday, Good Good initially apologized through a statement posted to social media, saying: “We posted a video to our channels that ultimately depicted actions that are not aligned with our values as a brand. We have since taken that content down. And sincerely apologize. Good Good has always stood for making the game of golf more inclusive to all, and we will continue to ensure that is our mission moving forward.” A few hours later, a Callaway spokesperson shared the following statement with GOLF.com: “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.”
On Tuesday, Callaway then posted a statement written by its CEO, Chip Brewer, and Good Good CEO Matt Kendrick posted a statement to his LinkedIn page. Kendrick said Good Good “made a mistake” and that the ad was intended to be a parody of a scene from the movie “Obsession.” He also said that Good Good was changing its “creative review.”
“The execution missed the mark,” he wrote. “I understand why people found it insensitive, and I want to be clear that neither I nor anyone at Good Good condones violence of any kind. Regardless of what we intended, we are responsible for what we put into the world and how it is received. We got this one wrong.”
In Brewer’s statement, he wrote that Callaway approved the Good Good-produced video, but “that approval should have never happened.”
“Mistakes were made and we are taking the matter very seriously,” Brewer wrote.
“As soon as we recognized the seriousness of the issue, it was escalated appropriately, and the video was immediately removed. Preliminary statements were issued by both Good Good and Callaway, and now this statement has followed. We are also conducting both internal and external investigations and have already made changes to our approval processes aimed at ensuring this will never happen again.”
On Tuesday, Rolapp was asked a pair of questions involving the ad. One reporter asked if Good Good “took enough accountability after this whole Callaway debacle?”
“I think initially no,” he said. “I think what we saw was concerning, is 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 the responses are getting better. I think 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.”
Later in the press conference, Rolapp was asked about the Good Good-backed tournament. The Tour had announced the event last October.
“I think I mentioned before, it’s a bit of a fluid situation,” Rolapp said. “We were disappointed at first. It sounds like in the last 24 hours they’ve made some progress. We’ll continue to monitor the situation and see how it develops.”
