I find Barstool irredeemably gross, but the sadder thing then who they are is (similar to Trump) how many normal people and institutions just shrug and get into bed with them.
A Barstool sponsorship pretty much guarantees sales. It has forced my hand multiple times in my line of work (alcoholic drinks). I've had more than one occasion when someone was presenting a new item to me and I'm probably leaning towards taking a pass. Then they mention a partnership/sponsorship with Barstool and I end up going: "sigh.....guess I need to bring it in then." Nowadays they usually just lead off with the Barstool part and skip the foreplay.
Barstool = money, so everything else just gets brushed aside. Over and over and over again. Mind you, I am just as complicit as anyone else in this. I could try to hide behind my job and act like my hand is forced, which isn't necessarily untrue. I work for a large company with many bosses, so push would come to shove sooner or later. But the truth is that I always take the path of least resistance, knowing I'm eventually going to have to bring in whatever stupid thing they're presenting at some point in the future anyways, because it's almost certain to find some degree of success in the marketplace. I'll say a few curse words under my breath but I'm usually not left with much choice. If it's tied to Barstool, there's already a baked-in group of idiots that is going to buy it regardless. It could be a mason jar filled with urine called "Bottled Urine" and they would still buy it in droves while laughing to each other about how funny they think it is.
Many businesses have calculated that any negative backlash they might receive is worth it compared to the potential financial gains that come with aligning your brand with Barstool. In my experience, that viewpoint has proven to be accurate. It's a sad state of affairs with a multitude of reasons for how we ended up here, but there you go. I'm not necessarily saying anything groundbreaking that you don't already know, but it is a little more complicated than just shrugging and getting into bed with them. Barstool was allowed to fester and grow to such a point that many businesses now feel they have no choice but to get on board with them. If they don't, a competitor will. Stop me if you've heard this story before...