Good morning. This is Megan Graham filling in for Nat Ives. Today, a social-media trend has small businesses flooded with asks for bachelorette party merch; Perplexity will pay publishers for news; and Cracker Barrel apologizes for how it communicated its rebrand. 

Brides-to-be are flooding brands with requests for free swag for their bachelorette parties, leaving some small businesses struggling to keep up.

The future brides are sharing lists of contacts at companies and scripts to follow when emailing them. They post “haul” videos if they succeed, sometimes accompanied by the precise phrasing that worked, and bemoan the lack of engagement if nobody answers.

Asking brands for bachelorette “PR” packages has become common in recent years as influencer culture mingled with wedding conversations in social media.

Weber’s Resupply, an outdoors-focused clothing company, received so many form emails still addressed to “[insert business here]” that it made a filter to screen them out, according to founder Meredith Weber.

Weber has also given feedback on social media. One woman had asked for 15 free Aspen-themed sweaters for her bachelorette party, she said on TikTok this March.

“Ma’am, if you can afford an Aspen bachelorette trip, you can afford a ski sweater from my shop,” Weber said in the video.

Perplexity will pay publishers for news articles that the artificial-intelligence company uses to answer queries, Alexandra Bruell reports. 

The artificial-intelligence startup expects to pay publishers from a $42.5 million revenue pool initially, and to increase that amount over time, Perplexity said Monday. Perplexity plans to distribute money when its AI assistant or search engine uses a news article to fulfill a task or answer a search request.

Its payments to publishers will come out of the subscription revenue generated by a new news service, called Comet Plus, that Perplexity plans to roll out widely this fall.

Perplexity said publishers will get 80% of Comet Plus revenue, including from the more expensive subscription tiers that provide Comet Plus free of charge.

Like other AI rivals, Perplexity has been building a search engine for the AI era, and turned to news articles and other content to answer queries from users. But publishers have complained the AI firms are taking their work without compensation, while siphoning away traffic that would otherwise go to their websites and apps.

Cracker Barrel planned to celebrate a fall menu and logo makeover with a festive country music concert in New York City, but its new logo stole the show—and not in a way the company intended, Heather Haddon reports. 

On Monday, the company apologized for how it communicated the changes but didn’t pivot from plans to keep updating the brand.

The chain replaced its longtime logo, featuring a man in overalls leaning against a barrel, with a streamlined version featuring just the chain’s name. The move engulfed the restaurant in a culture-war firestorm, with commentators online and some customers accusing Cracker Barrel of eschewing its country charm and heritage for a sanitized image.

Critics have lobbed personal attacks on social-media against Julie Felss Masino, chief executive of the nearly 56-year-old chain.

The fallout has shaved tens of millions of dollars from the public company’s market value, spawned calls for boycotts and risked the casual-dining chain’s turnaround plan.

Cracker Barrel has defended its changes, saying its “All the More” campaign was meant to honor its legacy while bringing new energy to the brand.

“Our values haven’t changed, and the heart and soul of Cracker Barrel haven’t changed,” the company said.

Temu owner’s profit fell less than expected. [WSJ]

Elon Musk’s xAI sues Apple and OpenAI, alleging they are monopolists. [WSJ]

What Blue Apron’s move to in-house its influencer marketing strategy says about the creator economy. [Digiday]

America’s most popular furniture brands face more tariffs. [WSJ]

A local ice-cream chain shows what American brands are doing wrong in China. [WSJ]

How fashion is navigating its summer of scandal. [Business of Fashion]