Backlash Grows Over Violent Ad From Callaway and Good Good Golf

[Cristiano]

An ad for a collab between Callaway and Good Good Golf has exploded in controversy. The ad shows a woman approaching a golf bag and being body checked and shoved to the ground for trying to touch his golf club. It has resulted in a well-deserved backlash for promoting violence against women, especially over something as stupid as a fucking golf club.

The reaction has been swift from retailers. Costco has removed Callaway clubs from their stores, and Dick’s Sporting Goods and others have removed Good Good Golf merchandise. The PGA tour is considering removing the sponsorship by Good Good Golf for the upcoming tour in November. The Golf Channel pushed the premiere of a show featuring Good Good Golf after sponsor pushback.

The biggest part of the blame definitely goes to Good Good Golf as they produced the ad and the man shoving the woman in the ad is their cofounder. Imagine how many people at that company saw the ad they produced and still thought it was a good idea. They deserve all of the backlash they are getting.

Callaway severs ties with golf brand after controversial ad sparks outrage

Callaway and Good Good’s collaboration on Callaway’s Quantum Driver drew criticism for appearing to promote violence against women.

www.nbcnews.com

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[Cristiano]

This is a fantastic response by an Acura dealership of all things
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[GoblinCampFollower]

Yeah, I first heard about this on instagram a bit ago. ...it's quite weird. Like the ad was made by very edgy college kids.

 

[Cristiano]

Yeah, I first heard about this on instagram a bit ago. ...it's quite weird. Like the ad was made by very edgy college kids.

Yes I think they were trying to be edgy in hopes of going viral. Mission accomplished, but not in the way they hoped.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

That is so last-century.

 

[Beebo Brink]

This is a fantastic response by an Acura dealership of all things.

Huh. The Acura ad reveals a deeper layer of misogyny to the Good Good ad than I'd noticed at first glance. It's not just the violence against a woman, it's the implicit assumption that women have no place in the sport. He wasn't tackling another guy who dared touch his driver, he was tackling a woman who had the temerity to tread in male space. As if women don't buy golf clubs, too.

The Acura ad cheekily flips that to "Why wouldn't we want a woman to drive our cars? OF COURSE we want women to touch our stuff; they buy cars, too."

 

[Beebo Brink]

Yes I think they were trying to be edgy in hopes of going viral. Mission accomplished, but not in the way they hoped.

As a thought experiment, switch up the casting. What if the golfer had tackled some random guy who dared to touch his club? What is the emotional impact?

Meh. Not edgy, not memorable, just another ad.

What provides the zing is the unspoken message that he's defending his male turf from a woman. That's the underlying emotional chord they were plucking. It was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek funny -- like a "take my wife... please" joke. It was a callout to bros, from the male bonding perspective. It's possible that the domestic violence connotations didn't even cross their radar when reviewing and approving an ad like this, because a lot of men have zippo awareness about that issue.

And apparently they are not interested in selling golf equipment to women. Although it also wouldn't surprise me if they were under the delusion that women would find this funny, too, and want that club for themselves.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Although it also wouldn't surprise me if they were under the delusion that women would find this funny, too, and want that club for themselves.

Yeah, it's been my experience with men like this that they often have the complete delusion that women and minorities should find their sexism and bigotry funny and charming. A lot of older conservative white men in particular have a lot of nostalgia for the good old days where they could be horrible without getting in much trouble. Many of them seem to carry the earnest delusion that women and minorities were ever truly okay with this, as opposed to just not wanting to always fight that battle.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Nice to see consequences. It feels so rare in the last few years.

I used to be big into golf as a teen and young adult; not so much really anymore for reasons. But I'm actually really happy to see Callaway respond the way they did to this situation, since they were kind of my brand in those days.