Good morning. Today, a jeans campaign evokes the sex and sensibility of 1980s advertising, AI is the wild card in Etsy’s push to gain buyers again and a big media company hopes a bigger brand name can keep it in the conversation.

The racy campaign for American Eagle Outfitters starring Sydney Sweeney is bringing into question whether the retailer accidentally strayed from its typically female-friendly marketing or deliberately tried to shift focus, Megan Graham reports for CMO Today.

The ads, themed “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” broke through in the culture but also quickly drew criticism. Some people said the pun on “great genes” with Sweeney as the sole example glorified blonde hair and blue eyes.

Others said the effort—including an ad in which the camera pans down to Sweeney’s breasts before she playfully scolds, “Hey, eyes up here”—didn’t seemed intended for likely customers of the denim she’s modeling.

White House communications director Steven Cheung defended the campaign, calling the negative takes “cancel culture run amok.”

American Eagle, which didn’t respond to requests for comment, previously has been praised for inclusive ads and sizing. The new campaign seems like “a departure from their core values,” said Jen Costello, global chief strategy officer of TBWA Worldwide.

Etsy is changing its marketing strategy to answer a decline in buyers as consumers grow more cautious, CMO Today’s Patrick Coffee writes, but the longer-term question may be how AI changes who comes to shop.

The brand is cutting its spending on TV and investing more into search, paid social and influencer marketing as part of an effort to attract more shoppers while managing its budget, executives said on this week’s earnings call.

But the company has one more hope: attracting future AI agents as they handle shopping assignments for users.

“We believe Etsy is uniquely positioned to benefit due to our sellers’ massive set of unique and highly differentiated inventory,” CEO Josh Silverman said on the call.

Dotdash Meredith, the publishing company behind titles including Food & Wine and Travel + Leisure, is renaming itself People Inc., taking the name of its most famous brand, Isabella Simonetti reports.

The previous corporate name, which was born of a 2021 acquisition that created a sprawling magazine empire, was “too clunky and cumbersome and weird,” said Neil Vogel, People Inc.’s chief executive.

It also didn’t reflect the company’s cultural reach. “I want to be thought of in the same sentence, same paragraph, as Google, Meta, Pinterest,” Vogel said.

Publishers are battling to stay relevant as capturing attention only gets harder and, most recently, AI tools threaten to upend their digital traffic.

The strongest card some media companies can play is to lean more heavily on their most recognizable, legacy brands.

Then again: People magazine once belonged to the world-striding Time Inc., which shared a name with its iconic newsweekly. Time magazine now belongs to Marc and Lynne Benioff, while Time Inc. disappeared into the company that in 2021 helped form Dotdash Meredith.

Apple’s iPhone sales blew past Wall Street’s expectations in the June quarter as some U.S. consumers rushed to buy their devices before potential price increases from tariffs. [WSJ] 

Amazon advertising revenue reached $15.7 billion in the second quarter, up 22% from a year earlier. [Adweek] 

MediaLink founder Michael Kassan and Hollywood talent agency UTA, which bought MediaLink in 2021, agreed to end the legal battle that erupted last year. [THR]

Ikea for the first time will sell furniture in a store other than its own by opening 1,000-square-foot storefronts inside 10 Best Buy locations. [Fast Company]

UK streaming service BritBox is running a “pop-up” on HBO Max through the end of September. [Deadline]

Wingstop reported its first same-store sales decline in three years, though company-owned stores using a new system to speed orders still grew. [Restaurant Business] 

K-pop group KiiiKiii is targeting millennium-minded Gen Z fans with lo-fi digital design, Friendster-like profiles and mock Craigslist links. [Mashable]

Brewers keep linking up with rock bands to brand new beers. [WSJ]

Real American Beer says sales surged after the death of co-founder Hulk Hogan. [Ad Age]

The drink of the summer is a “billion dollar smoothie.” [WSJ]