Add The New York Post on Google The controversial ad that has landed Good Good Golf in a heap of bad, bad times was intended to be a parody of the new horror movie “Obsession,” Good Good Golf founder and CEO Matt Kendrick claimed.
The ad was released in collaboration with Callaway Golf as part of a promotion for a new driver, but it created backlash as it featured co-founder Garrett Clark pushing down fellow Good Good creator Alexis Miestowski.
“We fully own that we did make a mistake … As the CEO of the company, the buck stops with me and we should have had better processes in place,” Kendrick told the Wall Street Journal. “Obviously the execution missed the mark and didn’t come across the way that we wanted to, and in no way were we trying to make light of or support violence. But it came across that way, and that’s our fault.”
The comments were similar to a statement that Kendrick made in a post on Linkedin, where he also said that the video was “intended to parody a scene” from the acclaimed horror movie.
The Good Good brand has more than 2 million subscribers on their YouTube channel and has been a major player in the golf content creator space, part of a larger movement that has helped grow the sports.
It’s also why the ad created such a stir, considering the amount of influence that Good Good Golf has, in particular with younger fans of the sport.
“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,” Kendrick wrote on Linkedin.
The founder told the Wall Street Journal that Good Good plans on donating proceeds of the campaign for the driver to an organization that supports women, but wasn’t sure which one that would be yet.
Kendrick also wrote on the social media platform that Good Good is putting new guardrails in place for its content.
Garrett Clark shoves Alexis Miestowski to the ground in a video for a Callaway driver posted by content creator Good Good Golf. Good Good Golf “We are changing our creative review and approval process to make sure more perspectives are represented before something goes out,” he wrote. “For the foreseeable future, I will personally review content coming from our marketing teams. We will make sure this never happens again.”
Callaway Golf has issued multiple statements since the ad was released and then subsequently taken down and the PGA Tour has weighed in since Good Good Golf is sponsoring a tournament in November.
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp told reporters in Atlanta on Tuesday that he was not “initially” pleased with the accountability the brand took.
Garrett Clark shoves Alexis Miestowski to the ground in a promotional video for a Callaway driver posted by content creator Good Good Golf. Good Good Golf “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,” Rolapp said.
“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.”
And Good Good’s handling could put their involvement of the fall PGA Tour event in Austin, Texas, up in the air.
Rolapp called their participation with the event a “fluid situation” when he was asked about appeared noncommittal about it.
“We’ll continue to monitor the situation and see how it develops,” he said.
