Where the Good Good Golf Ad went wrong.
When I first watched the Good Good Golf + Callaway ad, I will say, it was after I already read headline after headline of critique and criticism. In our doom-scroll world, I don't often enjoy watching things that make me recoil or cringe. If I'm scrolling or watching content, I want it to be humorous, light, something like a British comedy show, Jane Austen, or a DCC dance routine.
However, after seeing headlines like how the ad "promotes domestic violence" - it really seemed that I ought to view a golf ad that could do such a thing in 15 seconds.
What I discovered: this is just a bad ad.
Apart from a douche-brand male golfer shoving a woman down within the first few seconds, the continuation of the ad does no favors either. The horror-esque vibe of the ad missed the mark big time. In a world where we have quirky, whimsy witchy shows like Widow's Bay, Wednesday, and darker shows like Netflix's Flanaverse, it seems this ad was trying to nod to a different flair.
What it turned into was a weird ad that made no sense, had too many people in it, and ended up being wildly offensive to most audiences. The Shining spooky attempt was ultimately so dull and out of touch.
It begs the question, if they reversed some of the roles (e.g. a woman push a man down to not touch the driver), would it change anything? My answer - still no. It's just plain out bad. The premise is a try-hard, surface level ad that got bad buzz for good reasons.
With Callaway under fire, and Good Good Golf quite out of bounds, I'm less concerned with "who allowed this ad to happen" and more of "how does someone recover from this." While I anticipate Callaway being untouchable, their product line used by too many people, this will blow over for them. But I doubt the same for Good Good Golf.
A small brand took a big...dumb swing. And missed the ball entirely. I am curious if they felt like it was a risky ad, or if the unawareness ran deep. With decades of misogynistic layering in the sport, plus weird modern culture consisting of jokes of men leaving wives and families at home alone for hours, the voice of ads and consumer products has to walk an even finer line. As I learned with Prio Golf, even the clothing choices make a huge difference. A pattern that you could pull off as something retro (looking at you SKIMS Powder Blue Bandana print), looks out of date and even grosser in the golf world.
I'm all for a bold ad, something quirky that stays with you, but it needs to read the room. And unfortunately for Good Good Golf, it missed unorthodox and went into unacceptable. Those following the golf world see modern companies making a splash, and taking modern approaches to their content and ads, so I can understand, and even appreciate a new look at the modern golf ad. The space is flooding with now "finally, modern golf clothes," or content with younger golfers, more casual golfing, and exposure to this previously locked world. But I stand by that the key to unlocking this world was not found by Good Good Golf Ad.
Are companies going to keep dropping them as sponsors? Yes. Are they going to recover? Maybe not. Is this deserved? I really think so. Will the media keep posting and reposting this as much as they can because Good Good Golf is the easiest name to add a golf pun (e.g. bad bad golf)? Absolutely.
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