• Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort production company was involved with the latest Astronomer video featuring Gwyneth Paltrow. The ad is being hailed as a master class in crisis PR. It comes days after the former CEO and former head of HR were seen embracing at a Coldplay concert.

Astronomer might have gotten the last laugh following the viral moment that caught its former CEO and former head of HR in an embrace at a Coldplay concert. And it has, in some ways, Ryan Reynolds to thank for that.

Late Friday, Astronomer released a video featuring Gwyneth Paltrow (who was formerly married to Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin), who was hired as a spokesperson on a “very temporary basis.” In the humorous clip, Paltrow answers questions such as “OMG, what the actual f” and “How is your social media team holding…” by promoting the company’s services and upcoming analytics event.

If the tongue-in-cheek approach—from the phrasing of the questions to Paltrow’s blithely chipper answers—seems to have a Ryan Reynolds tinge to it, that’s because the ads were created by Reynolds’ Maximum Effort production company.

The company confirmed its participation in the ads on Sunday in a post on social media, writing “Thank you for your interest in Maximum Effort, @astronomerio! We’ll now get back to what we do best: motion pictures with Hugh Jackman, Fastvertising and Wrexham football,” the post said. “We’ll leave data workflow automation to Gwyneth Pa Astronomer.”

Pete DeJoy, Astronomer’s cofounder, who stepped in as CEO after Andy Byron’s resignation following the kiss cam incident, thanked Maximum Effort in a LinkedIn post Sunday.

“I’d also like to thank the team at Maximum Effort for their remarkable work with our very temporary spokesperson,” DeJoy said. “As Gwyneth Paltrow said, now it’s time for us to return to what we do best: delivering game-changing results for our customers. We look forward to what this next chapter holds for Astronomer.”

Maximum Effort, founded in 2018, has made a name for itself with its irreverent video spots, some of which are ads, some of which are simply meant to amuse. It also co-produced the films Free Guy and Deadpool & Wolverine.

The Paltrow video has been viewed more than 36 million times on X/Twitter alone, with more than 150,000 likes. It has another 534,000 views on YouTube to date.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• Hulk Hogan’s Real American Beer was bidding to buy Hooters before his death. It’s now unclear if that offer will continue. Hogan died Thursday, reportedly of cardiac arrest.

The death of Hulk Hogan (real name Terry Bollea) Thursday marked the end of an era in the wrestling world, but it could put the future of a national restaurant chain at risk as well.

Bollea’s Real American Beer brand had launched a bid to acquire Hooters just last month. After initially bidding only for the company’s intellectual property, it expanded that bid to acquire all of Hooters of America, including the over 400 locations across the world.

Hooters filed for bankruptcy in June, abruptly closing dozens of locations. Management at the time said the company wasn’t “going anywhere” and that “by optimizing our business in support of our long-term goals, Hooters will be well-positioned to continue our iconic legacy under a pure franchise business model.”

That didn’t stop bidders from emerging. Real American Beer found itself in competition with a proposal led by Hooters Inc., which oversees some franchised Hooters locations. The company’s cofounder was a part of that group.

“Real American’s bid is different,” the company said at the time of its bid. “It’s about rebuilding Hooters from the ground up, with a fresh operational model, new revenue streams (merchandise, partnerships, experience-first locations), and a cultural strategy designed to reengage diners in their 20s and 30s. This isn’t about preserving nostalgia. It’s about unlocking Hooters’ next chapter, with real investment, real leadership, and a real plan to win.”

Great American Beer did not reply to Fortune‘s request for comment about the state of the acquisition offer following Hogan’s death.

If the bid is approved, Great American Beer would need to launch a separate entity to own Hooters, since liquor laws in the U.S. prohibit alcohol brands from owning restaurants.

Hooters and Hogan’s beer have a history, however. The chain was one of the first to agree to serve the lager last June.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• Google has launched a tool to let you virtually try on clothes online. Available now, the tool lets users upload a picture of themselves to see how the outfit would look on them. AI components account for how materials fold or stretch across people’s bodies.

Buying online clothes is always something of a crap shoot. What looks good on the webpage could look ridiculous on you in person (or worse, entirely too tight).

A few months ago at its I/O 2025 event, Google unveiled an AI-powered tool that could prevent those fashion disasters, letting you upload a full-body picture of yourself to virtually try on clothing found online. Now, that tool is finally available to users in the U.S.

To use the tool, just tap on any product listing across Google or an apparel product result on Google Images and hit the “try it on” icon. From there, you’ll upload a full-length photo and see what you’ll look like in the outfit.

The tool works on laptop, desktop and mobile devices.

Google says it has also updated its price alert feature, so you can track prices and grab the top, dress or shorts when it falls into your price range.

The tool doesn’t just overlay the clothing on top of the image you upload. Google used an AI image generation model to account for how materials fold or stretch across people’s bodies.

Later this year, Google will bring shopping features like this to its AI Mode, including one that lets people explore (and purchase) outfit and decor ideas directly from the chatbot.

One heads-up about this tool: While it does a good job of showing you what the clothes will look like on you, it does not account for body size, so it’s not currently useful as a guide to whether an outfit will fit you well. In our own tests, the tool shaved several pounds off of us to showcase the clothes. And while that was a nice fantasy, the reality would likely look a bit different.

In fairness, the tool does warn users “Fit and appearance won’t be exact.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• A study by the AFL-CIO finds CEOs in the S&P 500 made 285 times more than their employees last year. The largest pay disparity was at Starbucks, where CEO Brian Niccol made 6,666 times as much as the median worker. As CEOs saw 7% raises, the average worker’s paycheck went up just 3%.

It’s a good time to be a CEO. A new study by the AFL-CIO found the average corporate leader saw their compensation increase by $1.24 million last year. On average, the federation of unions says, CEOs at the nation’s largest companies made 285 times what the average worker did. A year ago, that ratio was 268:1.

“The median employee would have had to start working in 1740 to earn what the average CEO received in 2024,” the organization wrote in its 2025 Executive Paywatch study.

CEO pay at S&P 500 companies increased 7% in 2024 over the prior year, with the average S&P 500 leader earning $18.9 million, the highest amount on record. (The previous high was set in 2021, coming in at $18.3 million.) In the past decade, CEOs in the S&P 500 have seen their salaries go up by an average of $6.5 million. Workers last year saw an average 3% raise, the organization says.

Among S&P 500 companies, the largest disparity between CEO and median worker pay was at Starbucks. While the average worker took home $14,674, according to the study, CEO Brian Niccol received $97.8 million in total compensation. That works out to 6,666 times more than workers and comes as the coffee-shop employees seek to form a union.

Axon Enterprise CEO Patrick Smith topped the pay list overall, though, with the CEO of the Taser manufacturer receiving compensation of $164.5 million in 2024 – a ratio of 801:1.

The report highlighted the Trump tax cut package in its report, noting that the average CEO would receive a tax cut of nearly $490,000 due to the extension of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Workers will see their tax bill go down an average of $765.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• Krispy Kreme and Crocs are teaming up to introduce a doughnut-inspired pair of shoes. The owners of that footwear will get a free doughnut on Aug. 9.

It’s pretty easy, if you’re patient, to get a free doughnut from Krispy Kreme. The company lures in customers regularly with promotions for holidays and special events. But if you need a mouthful of that glorious glazed fried dough now, there’s another way to get a freebie: Buy some Crocs.

The doughnut chain and the footwear company have teamed up to offer a limited-edition pair of Crocs inspired by the company’s glazed offering. They’ll go on sale Aug. 5 (packaged in a Krispy Kreme box). And if you strut into any Krispy Kreme location wearing them on Aug. 9, you’ll get a free doughnut.

The Crocs come equipped with interchangeable chocolate and strawberry icing dipped toe caps. Also available will be a five Pack of Jibbitz charms, which include the Krispy Kreme sign, a hat with the company logo, and several doughnut varieties.

To get your hands on a pair, head to participating Krispy Kreme locations on Aug. 4 and place an order or scan the Crocs QR code that will be on display. (You can learn if your local store is participating in the sale at this website.)

“At Crocs, we’ve always believed in comfort you can customize – and now, with Krispy Kreme, we’re serving up style that’s glazed with personality and sprinkled with style,” Terence Reilly, chief brand officer for Crocs, Inc., said in a statement. “Because when it comes to self-expression, we ‘doughnut’ hold back.”

It’s not just a show deal, to mark the occasion, Krispy Kreme will offer a special dozen made up of the company’s Original Glazed, Chocolate Iced with Sprinkles, and Strawberry Iced with Sprinkles. That collection of treats will be available from Aug. 4-10.

So how much will the Krispy Kreme Crocs cost? Good question. The companies did not announce a price.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• McDonald’s will begin testing a variety of new drinks at select stores. This comes months after the company shut down its CosMc’s stores, which specialized in unique beverages. The testing will begin in September, largely in Wisconsin and Colorado.

McDonald’s might have shut down CosMc’s, its Starbucks competitor, but the company is still leaning heavily into new beverage offerings.

A report in The Wall Street Journal says the company is planning to offer a variety of new drinks at hundreds of locations starting in September. Included among the offerings will be a range of coffees and “dirty sodas,” which will include things like flavored syrups and dried fruits.

The company plans to see which of the new drinks resonate with customers and then determine how to work them into the menu on a larger scale.

That was, in some ways, the point of CosMc’s. McDonald’s was able to experiment with offerings that may or may not have worked in its main business, without having to retrain its entire workforce and potentially slow down service.

The company opened eight of those stores. They were initially a hit, but McDonald’s gave up on the concept after less than two years.

“It allowed us to test new, bold flavors and different technologies and processes – without impacting the existing McDonald’s experience for customers and crew,” the company said in a statement when it announced the closing. “By creating a Learning Lab – in a way that only McDonald’s can – the CosMc’s team was able to test-and-learn in real customer-facing environments, which allowed for greater agility and speed.”

It added, at the time, that some of the most popular CosMc’s drinks will make it onto the menu at standard McDonald’s.

The 10 new drinks will largely be introduced in stores in Wisconsin and Colorado.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• South Park targeted President Donald Trump and Paramount in its 27^th season premiere. The show lampooned Trump for his eagerness to sue and the network for its quick settlements and cancellation of The Late Show. It also included a deepfake video that showed a nude Trump.

Any fans who were concerned that Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s $1.5 billion deal with Paramount would dull the duo’s satirical edge got a quick and decisive answer on Wednesday’s season premiere of South Park. The show, which often addresses topical issues, skewered President Trump and its network parent Paramount in one of its most blistering episodes in years.

“Sermon on the Mount” had everything from Trump in bed with Satan (replacing Saddam Hussein, the ruler of hell’s former lover) to a parody of 60 Minutes to a mention of the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show. Satan asked Trump about the “Epstein list.” And there was even a deepfake video of Trump walking through the desert, stripping off his suit and eventually wandering around fully nude. There’s more—much more—but we won’t get into it here, since families visit this website. Best to just see it for yourself.

The episode’s official plot was about the return of Jesus, who enrolled in South Park’s schools. That led to the coverage by 60 Minutes, with the hosts nervously making comments about Trump such as “the president, who is a great man … [who] is probably watching.” Parents in the fictional town protest to Trump they didn’t want Jesus in schools, which leads to Trump threatening to sue them for $5 billion.  (Trump also threatens to sue Satan at one point.)

“I didn’t want to come back and be in the school, but I had to because it was part of a lawsuit and the agreement with Paramount,” Jesus tells the town. “You guys saw what happened to CBS? Well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount. You really want to end up like Colbert? You guys got to stop being stupid… He also has the power to sue and take bribes and he can do anything to anyone. It’s the f*****g president, dude… South Park is over.”

The town eventually settles with Trump for $3.5 million, but is also required to create “pro-Trump messaging,” which leads to the deepfake film.

All of this comes hours after Paramount agreed to pay the production company owned by Stone and Parker $1.5 billion for the global streaming rights for the next five years. HBO Max previously held the streaming rights to the show. That high dollar amount caught people’s attention since Paramount handed it out so soon after cancelling The Late Show and ending its association with host Stephen Colbert, calling its move “purely a financial decision.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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