Golf brand Callaway apologized on Tuesday for a problematic ad created by YouTube channel Good Good Golf to promote a co-branded driver.
“While the video was produced by Good Good, it was approved by Callaway prior to posting,” Chip Brewer, CEO of Callaway Golf, said in a statement posted on social media. “That approval should never have happened. Mistakes were made, and we are taking the matter very seriously.”
“As we deal with the consequences of our mistake and complete our investigations, I want to make it clear that we sincerely apologize for the video,” the statement continued. “The content was inappropriate and does not reflect our values. To be clear: We are unequivocally against discrimination, domestic violence, or threatening behavior of any kind.”
The ad, shared last week, shows a woman on a golf course reaching for the new Quantum Max Good Good Driver when Good Good Golf co-founder Garrett Clark pushes her to the ground and tells her not to touch it.
Once the video spread, fans were quickly outraged and took to the social media pages for Good Good Golf, a golf YouTube channel and company founded by a group of men.
“Has anyone checked on their wives/girlfriends,” one comment read on an unrelated video.
Good Good Golf removed the video and posted a statement apologizing for it on Saturday.
Matt Kendrick, Good Good Golf co-founder and CEO, told the Wall Street Journal on Monday that the ad was intended to be a parody of the horror movie “Obsession.”
“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 said. “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.”
Good Good Golf told the publication that it intends to donate any proceeds from the campaign for the driver to a women’s organization, but it hadn’t decided which one yet.
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.