Good morning. Today, “Alright, alright, alright” becomes a chess piece in the long game over AI; department stores suffer the loss of their customer relationships; and what fliers’ outfits say about airlines’ product.

Whether AI brings us to a world of miracle cures and untold productivity or/and somewhere worse, the trail will be marked by celebrity deepfakes.

“Interstellar,” “Lincoln Lawyer” and “Magic Mike” star Matthew McConaughey is trying to head off unauthorized AI dupes by trademarking himself, The Wall Street Journal’s Ben Fritz reports.

McConaughey has won approval for eight trademark applications in which he stares, smiles and speaks—including delivering his famous line “Alright, alright, alright” from “Dazed and Confused.”

“My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is ever used, it’s because I approved and signed off on it,” he said in an email. “We want to create a clear perimeter around ownership with consent and attribution the norm in an AI world.”

Product endorsements aren’t the only way, or even the main way, to make money from AI fakes. Fraudsters can cash in on AI-generated work by posting it to digital platforms where they can collect a cut of ad revenue.

McConaughey’s lawyers said they don’t know of any other actors who have secured broad trademarks on themselves or how courts would react.

“But we have to at least test this,” said McConaughey lawyer Kevin Yorn, who also represents actors including Scarlett Johansson and Zoe Saldaña.

Even before generative AI, technology helped companies depict Bruce Willis, Elon Musk, Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio without permission in ads and promotional videos, the WSJ Leadership Institute’s Patrick Coffee wrote in 2022.

Since then AI has yielded increasingly convincing video, images and audio of performers from Taylor Swift to King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.

The parent of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy protection, barely a year after an ambitious deal brought the two storied retailers together, Suzanne Kapner and Becky Yerak report:

Department stores used to give brands an essential gateway to key customers, but e-commerce opened rival consumer paths while suppliers like the parent companies of Louis Vuitton and Gucci now dwarf their retail distributors.

And brands big and small increasingly run their own locations, competing with department stores and taking over the customer relationship.

You can tell a lot about what you’re giving customers by looking at what they give you back.

The Transportation Department says air travelers should dress up like they did in the old days, running a campaign called “The Golden Age of Travel Starts With You,” but its persuasion effort faces a formidable challenge: the product that airlines sell today.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says more fliers who wear at least jeans and a decent shirt would help soothe rising in-flight outbursts, the Journal’s Dean Seal reports. “Let’s try not to wear slippers and pajamas as we come to the airport,” Duffy said in late November.

That earlier era of dressing up to fly reflected the long-gone exclusivity of the air, however, and comfortable clothing seems only appropriate for contemporary lines, flight delays and packed planes. Nor do budget airline brands that charge for each “amenity” convey a terribly formal feeling.

Spanx, keeping its finger on the pulse of passengers, even sells a loungewear line called AirEssentials.

The community where marketing leaders drop the corporate speak and share what’s actually happening. The WSJ CMO Council unites leaders from the world’s most influential brands including Adobe, Audi, Google, IBM, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Meta, Taco Bell, P&G and Verizon.

Tap into the connections and WSJ intelligence that move careers forward and separate the prepared from the scrambling.

Request Information

Netflix is preparing to make its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery’s studios and HBO Max streaming business all-cash as Paramount keeps pushing its competing offer. [WSJ]

The case for (and against) making influencers the stars of Super Bowl commercials. [Digiday]

Roblox’s AI system to determine players’ ages is calling some kids adults, labeling some adults as kids and spawning a black market for age-verified accounts. [Wired] 

Bank of America said its profit rose in the fourth quarter of last year as consumer spending rose and delinquencies on credit cards edged lower. Big banks’ financial results this week are offering the latest look at Americans’ financial state. [WSJ] 

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter tapped Gordon Ramsay to update its pitch for the GLP-1 age. [Adweek]

Modelo Introduced a nonalcoholic Chelada Limon y Salt brand extension, aiming to ride both the moderation and flavor trends at once. [Packaging Digest]

New York City’s vegan restaurant moment is winding down, partly because meat is taking its turn and partly because even steakhouses now often offer “one or two vegan dishes that are good.” [NY Mag]