Callaway drop Good Good over controversial ad: "Violence against women is unacceptable"

Equipment giant Callaway have decided to part ways with content creator Good Good amid the fallout from their controversial driver advertisement which portrayed violence against women.

Good Good, which has more than two million subscribers on YouTube, published the advertisement on their social media channels last week. 

The brand claimed it was intended to be a parody of the horror movie Obsession. 

In the clip, the face and co-founder of the brand, Garrett Clark, was shown tackling pro golfer and Good Good Girls member Alexis Miestowski to the floor after she reached for his driver. 

After she let out a pained reaction, Clark warned her: "Do not touch my new driver."

The backlash was severe and the PGA Tour was even urged to drop the brand as a title sponsor of the inaugural Good Good Championship this fall. 

Such was the furore, Callaway's chief executive - Chip Brewer - released a statement of his own at 1:14am on Wednesday. 

Callaway have now decided to part ways with Good Good.

And they have pledged to donate $1m to "support organizations working to prevent violence against women, provide resources to survivors, and advance education and awareness efforts."

Callaway "has ended its relationship" with Good Good

Read Callaway's statement in full:

Over the last several days, we have listened and reflected deeply on the hurt and disappointment caused by the video we reposted. 

We heard from individuals who shared personal experiences related to violence against women, and their stories were powerful reminders that this issue touches the lives of far too many people. 

Unequivocally, violence against women is unacceptable and should never be trivialized, normalized, or used as entertainment.

We have now completed our review of this matter and are taking the following actions:

• Callaway has ended its relationship with Good Good, effective immediately.
• In this instance, our content review process was not comprehensive enough. We have taken appropriate internal corrective actions and significantly strengthened our approval procedures to help ensure this does not happen again.
• We are committing $1m to support organizations working to prevent violence against women, provide resources to survivors, and advance education and awareness efforts.

These actions do not undo the harm caused or excuse our role in it.

We sincerely apologize to everyone who was hurt, disappointed, or offended by this incident.

One of Callaway Golf's core values is to be a positive influence, both in the game of golf and in our communities. 

We are further strengthening our commitment to these initiatives, and this will be an ongoing focus in our company.

We are committed to learning from this incident and helping ensure that golf is a place where everyone feels respected, valued, and welcome."

For his part, Clark said that his "skin was crawling" after he watched the ad back. 

In an apology video, he stressed that the tackle was staged. 

"I personally want to apologise for playing the role in this skit, in this ad, at the magnitude that I did," Clark said.

"And then on Good Good's behalf and Good Good marketing team's behalf, I wanted to say an apology as well, because this is not at all what we stand for."

Watch Clark's video in full here: 

Clark also explained that Miestowski has been sent death threats on Instagram. 

He urged people who wanted to direct their anger towards the campaign to target Good Good or himself rather than Miestowski.

"If you guys have any hatred or comments that you're wanting to send our way, put it towards Good Good," he said. 

"Put it towards me personally. I can handle it."

The PGA Tour are yet to comment on the latest development. 

Ahead of the Tour Championship, PGA Tour boss Brian Rolapp said they were "monitoring" the relationship with the brand. 

He said the brand initially didn't take enough accountability and their initial apology was "a bit defensive and late". 

"I think what we saw was concerning, is clearly not aligned with PGA Tour values," he said. 

"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.

"We've had some conversations with them, so we'll continue to monitor and work with them going forward.

"But now, we were disappointed with what we saw."