You can’t delete history, Golf Channel.
The Golf Channel Twitter account forgot a few key points about trying to be relevant on Twitter: know your audience, understand your brand, and don’t be an idiot. This was obviously lacking when they decided to compare the dream of getting a hole-in-one to the dream Martin Luther King, Jr. had 50 years ago. They compared golf to racism.
The backlash has been so great that they’ve since deleted the tweet. However, that has not stopped people from voicing their outrage.
One of the striking issues with this tweet is that golf is an extremely segregated sport. To this day, country clubs have strict standards and are still primarily prejudiced against blacks joining. Not to mention the disgustingly low number of people who play golf that are non-white.
A recent study from the National Golf Foundation reveals that only 5 percent of golfers in the US are African-American. This statistic might be shocking to many considering the success of black pro golfers, such as, Tiger Woods or… um, Tiger Woods? OK, maybe it’s not that shocking.
On the 50th anniversary of MLK’s march on Washington, I have a dream that this sport can be more accepting of other races. I also have a dream that we don’t see any more irrelevant tweets from brands trying to be relevant.
Keep dreaming…
The Golf Channel eventually responded to the criticism tweeting:
Our earlier tweet was inappropriate. The intent was to celebrate this important date in history & we regret we failed to meet that standard.
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) August 28, 2013
