Forget about abruptly inescapable Brooklyn bands for a moment; California’s political disclosure laws are providing a peek at how the evolution of social-media marketing is also changing political campaigns.

Tom Steyer’s campaign for governor has “offered creators everything from $10 a post to nearly half a million for communications consulting in the hopes that they’ll spread the word about him, or at least take his opponents down a peg,” Max Tani wrote last night in Semafor.

Spencer Pratt’s campaign for mayor of Los Angeles is embracing clipping, meanwhile, paying agencies to get creators to repost excerpts from interviews and appearances.

Pratt’s team this month paid $30,025 to an agency called Clipping Culture, which says its clients include Selena Gomez and Lady Gaga, and $25,000 to Cliphaus, which describes itself as “the trusted, leading clipping company distributing content at the largest scale, and helping creators, artists and brands generate billions of views through short-form content, with unrivaled results,” Alex Weprin wrote in the Hollywood Reporter.

The Pratt campaign is also paying to ensure that AI clips created by others travel far and wide on social media; you may have seen the one depicting the former reality star as Batman and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass as the Joker.

Pratt, who appears to be in good position to earn a spot in a runoff against Bass, hasn’t bought any airtime on TV or radio, the New York Times reported late last week.

Many creators who weigh in on political races in California or amplify clips are disclosing that they’re getting paid and attaching their candidate’s committee ID number as required under state law. “The author was paid by Pratt for Mayor 2026 FPPC 1485940 in connection with this posting” is a typical kicker.

But sometimes they add a little spin in the style of the famous line, “I’m not only the Hair Club president, but I’m also a client”:

And sometimes those notes are getting tacked on late and only after complaints by rival campaigns.

NBCUniversal’s Peacock is counting on the latest season of suntan-soaked, bikini-laden reality dating show “Love Island USA” for a needed boost when it premieres June 2, Patience Haggin and Joe Flint report for The Wall Street Journal.

After a slow start on CBS, “Love Island USA” has broken out on Peacock, where twerking, lap dances and F-bombs are more permissible.

The “Love Island” voting app hit #1 in Apple’s App Store last season, at one point surpassing ChatGPT. The mobile game was downloaded 36 million times, at its peak selling 80 virtual outfits a minute.

But most importantly for Peacock, last year’s season brought in nearly two million new subscribers, people familiar with the matter said.

Peacock has launched an extensive social-media campaign to promote the show’s return, leaning into its rare status as appointment viewing among younger demographics.

“You don’t just watch it, you quote it, you meme it, you argue about it, and you plan your nights around it,” the show’s host, Ariana Madix, told advertisers at NBCU’s upfront presentation this month.

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