A 56-second ad unwound Good Good's three-year Callaway partnership in two weeks

The backlash arrived as thousands of negative comments across social platforms, many of them saying the video made light of violence against women ^[12]. It produced two apologies with two different accounts of the failure. Garrett Clark apologized on Instagram and said the concept came from Good Good's marketing team ^[9]. "Looking back, super dumb ad concept, terrible ad in general," he said. "The worst ad known to man." ^[10] He also denounced threats of violence made against Alexis Miestowski on social media ^[13]. Callaway apologized as well, saying it was not involved in producing the ad and that its own review process was inadequate ^[5]. Business Insider's account does not identify who held final creative sign-off on either side.

The second failure is the one that moved people out of jobs. CEO Matt Kendrick attacked Callaway in a series of early-morning posts, and days later he was out ^[6]. Joe Flannery, a Nike and Adidas veteran brought in to oversee most of Good Good's operations, was still being onboarded when the ad appeared, and he left without attempting a repair ^[7][8]. On the published timeline his entire tenure as president fits inside the crisis ^[1].

The commercial unwinding ran faster than the personnel one. Dick's Sporting Goods pulled Good Good products from shelves ^[14], the group withdrew as title sponsor of a fall PGA Tour event ^[15], and the Golf Channel scrapped the upcoming season of its reality golf series ^[16]. Counting Callaway, four relationships broke inside the fortnight ^[2]. Behind them sat a deal Good Good had called its "biggest announcement yet" in 2023 ^[1], followed by a string of retail partnerships and $45 million in investment ^[2].

Ben Woods, head of creator economy at Enders Analysis, described the trade-off brands accept when they sign talent. "Brands are rightly advised to give creators breathing space because nobody understands how to engage their audiences better than they do," he said. "But that freedom inevitably comes with some reputational risk when content crosses a line or generates controversy." ^[21]

The record here describes a habit. One person who worked on other projects with Good Good said the company was run in a casual manner and that they had seen ads fly out the door with little oversight ^[19]. "I think a lot of things get brought to them very quickly and they say, 'Let's do it,'" this person said ^[20].

Some of this was already understood inside the company. Business Insider reported that leaders and investors saw a need for greater professionalization, and that the scale of Flannery's remit suggested investors felt Kendrick needed reinforcements ^[17]. Hiring an outside operator is the category's standard answer, and Business Insider reported that many creator-led companies, MrBeast's included, are bringing in outside leaders ^[22]. Good Good had rolled out a campaign earlier this year, "There's more to Golf," to promote inclusivity and reach new audiences ^[23].