Good morning. Today, Comcast develops AI that can create commercials for advertisers; brands feel a chill from immigration raids; and Disney and Universal accuse an AI company of appropriating their characters.

The race to automate advertising poses a threat to the agency holding companies that now rule the field, Patrick Coffee reports for CMO Today.

Meta Platforms aims to release AI by the end of 2026 that can handle the entire process of creating and placing ads, as Patrick reported last week. Google and Amazon are working on similar tools.

And NBCU owner Comcast this summer plans to provide marketers with a free AI-driven tool that will automate creative production for commercials on streaming TV, a spokeswoman said.

Full creative automation will let brands’ marketing teams make campaigns on their own while looking to their agency partners primarily for strategic guidance, said Jessica Serrano, CMO at Dig restaurants.

The largest agency owners will have to downsize in response to a technology that is speeding the commoditization of their services, said Michael Nathanson, an analyst at equity research firm MoffettNathanson.

“You don’t need a 1,000-person team anymore,” he said. “You need three or four great people with a vision.”

Big brands are learning what it means to lose Latino consumers, Laura Cooper, Arian Campo-Flores and Enrique Pérez de la Rosa write.

Many Latinos, including those with legal residency, say they are forgoing their regular shopping and restaurant trips out of fear of being stopped by immigration officers. Job losses and inflation are also squeezing spending.

Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Modelo brewer Constellation Brands and restaurant chains including Wingstop and El Pollo Loco over the past few months have said that a decrease in Hispanic spending is hurting their sales.

Coke, which is also facing a boycott over an online rumor about helping ICE, is working to get back some of those consumers. In May it introduced a marketing campaign in English and Spanish called “For Everyone.”

Constellation might consider a marketing campaign for the fall if spending doesn’t recover, distributors said.

Disney and Universal, the studios behind Princess Elsa and the Minions, have joined to sue Midjourney, alleging that the AI provider is stealing their intellectual property, Jessica Toonkel and Connor Hart report.

Their complaint includes dozens of examples of images generated by Midjourney that depict their copyrighted characters, such as Darth Vader, Homer Simpson and the Minions.

“Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism,” the complaint said. Midjourney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hollywood companies are struggling to confront the growing popularity of generative AI and keep control over their valuable characters.

The NBA’s Most Valuable Player is its fashion MVP, too. [WSJ] 

Mobile checkout systems are letting brands like Glossier rethink their store layouts. [Modern Retail] 

Chicken-and-biscuit chain Bojangles is working with investment bankers to potentially sell itself while fried chicken is hot. [WSJ] 

Creators will loom larger than ever at next week’s Cannes Lions. [Ad Age] 

Fine jewelry is being infiltrated by offbeat designs like a $20,000 ring that looks like a hamburger. [Business of Fashion]

Why Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is having to split up the media empire he built. [WSJ] 

Pop culture has a cigarette habit again. [NYT]