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Don’t tune into the Super Bowl hoping for a break from the tumultuous politics gripping the U.S.The NFL is facing pressure ahead of Sunday’s game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots to take a more explicit stance against the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement. More than 184,000 people have signed a petition calling on the league to denounce the potential presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Super Bowl, which is being held at Levi’s Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area. The liberal group MoveOn plans to deliver the petition to the NFL’s New York City headquarters on Tuesday.Meanwhile, anticipation is building around how Bad Bunny, the halftime show’s Spanish-speaking headliner, will address the moment. He has criticized President Donald Trump on everything from his hurricane response in his native Puerto Rico to his treatment of immigrants. On Sunday night, he blasted ICE while accepting an award at the Grammys. His latest tour skipped the continental U.S. because of fears that his fans could be targeted by immigration agents.Trump has said he doesn’t plan to attend this year’s game, unlike last year, and he has derided Bad Bunny as a “terrible choice.” A Republican senator is calling it “the woke bowl.” And a prominent conservative group plans to hold an alternative show that it hopes will steal attention from the main event.The Super Bowl is one of the few remaining cultural touchstones viewed by millions of people in real time and the halftime show is no stranger to controversy, perhaps most notably Janet Jackson’s 2004 performance in which her breast was briefly exposed. But there are few parallels to this year’s game, which has the potential to become an unusual mix of sports, entertainment, politics and protest. And it will unfold at a tinderbox moment for the U.S., just two weeks after Alex Pretti’s killing by federal agents in Minneapolis reignited a national debate over the Trump administration’s hard-line law enforcement tactics.“The Super Bowl is supposed to be an escape, right? We’re supposed to go there to not have to talk about the serious things of this country,” said Tiki Barber, a former player for the New York Giants who played in the Super Bowl in 2001 and has since attended several as a commentator. “I hope it doesn’t devolve, because if it does, then I think we’re really losing touch with what’s important in our society.” Bad Bunny has leaned into the controversy The 31-year-old Bad Bunny, born in Puerto Rico as Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has elevated Latino music into the mainstream and gained global fame with songs almost entirely in Spanish something that irks many of his conservative detractors. He has leaned into the controversy, referring to the halftime show when he hosted “Saturday Night Live” in October by joking “everybody is happy about it even Fox News.”He segued into a few sentences in Spanish, expressing Latino pride in the achievement, and finished by saying in English, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn!”Those who follow him closely doubt that he’ll back down now.“He has made it very clear what he stands for,” said Vanessa Díaz, a professor at Loyola Marymount University and co-author of “P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance.” “So I can’t imagine that this would all go away with the Super Bowl.”The halftime show is a collaboration between the NFL, Roc Nation and Apple Music. Roc Nation curates the performers and Apple Music distributes the performance while the NFL ultimately controls the stage, broadcast and branding.The NFL, which is working to expand its appeal across the world, including into Latin America, said it never considered removing Bad Bunny from the halftime show even after criticism from Trump and some of his supporters.NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday described the singer as “one of the great artists in the world,” as well as someone who understands the power of the Super Bowl performance “to unite people and to be able to bring people together.”“I think artists in the past have done that. I think Bad Bunny understands that. And I think you’ll have a great performance,” Goodell told reporters during his annual Super Bowl press conference.About half of Americans approved of Bad Bunny as the halftime performer, according to an October poll from Quinnipiac University. But there were substantial gaps with about three-quarters of Democrats backing the pick compared to just 16% of Republicans. About 60% of Black and Hispanic adults approved of the selection compared to 41% of whites.Republicans are eager to maintain Latino support in their bid to keep control of Congress. But as the Super Bowl draws near, many in the GOP have kept up their Bad Bunny critiques.Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, the former head football coach at Auburn University who is now running for governor, derided the “Woke Bowl” on Newsmax last week and said he’ll watch an alternative event hosted by Turning Point USA.The group founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk said Monday that Kid Rock, a vocal Trump supporter, would be among the performers at its event. DHS won’t say whether immigration agents will be at Super Bowl In recent days, Department of Homeland Security official Jeff Brannigan hosted a series of private calls with local officials and the NFL in which he indicated that ICE does not plan to conduct any law enforcement actions the week of the Super Bowl or at the game, according to two NFL officials with direct knowledge of the conversations.ICE is not expected to be among more than a dozen DHS-related agencies providing security at the game, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.While that is the plan, some worry that Trump and his MAGA allies who lead DHS can change their minds ahead of Sunday’s game given their recent statements.DHS official Corey Lewandowski, a key adviser to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, said in October that ICE agents would be conducting immigration enforcement at the game.“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people who are in the country illegally, not the Super Bowl, not anywhere else,” he said at the time.Asked to clarify ICE’s role this week, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin refused to say whether federal immigration agents will be present for the Super Bowl.“Those who are here legally and not breaking other laws have nothing to fear,” she said. “We will not disclose future operations or discuss personnel. Super Bowl security will entail a whole-of-government response conducted in line with the U.S. Constitution.”The progressive group MoveOn will host a Tuesday rally utside the NFL headquarters in New York to present a petition telling the league, “No ICE at the Super Bowl.”“This year’s Super Bowl should be remembered for big plays and Bad Bunny, not masked and armed ICE agents running around the stadium inflicting chaos, violence, and trauma on fans and stadium workers,” MoveOn spokesperson Britt Jacovich said. “The NFL can’t stay on the sidelines, the league has a responsibility to act like adults, protect Super Bowl fans and stadium workers, and keep ICE out of the game.”In an interview, San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie was optimistic that the event would be a success even in a politically tense climate.“We are going to keep everybody safe our residents, our visitors,” he said. “Obviously with everything going on, we’re staying on top of it, monitoring everything. But I expect everything to be safe and fun.” Steven Sloan and Steve Peoples, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Discounting has been part of retails toolkit for decades, and it can be effective, especially during high-stakes shopping seasons. But as promotions become more frequent across the industry, companies are taking a closer look at the downside: Short-term sales gains dont always come with long-term loyalty or durable margins, and customers remember how a brand made them feel far more than what they saved at checkout. Whats often missing from the conversation is the role of experience-led value. Loyalty isnt built through price aloneits built through moments that make a customer feel recognized, appreciated, and confident they made the right choice. When brands compete only on discounts, they sacrifice those moments in favor of short-term volume. This coming year, retailers may feel the urge to pull the markdown lever more than ever. While the National Retail Federation pegged retail sales during the recent holiday shopping season to exceed $1 trillion, retailers saw fewer unit sales as shoppers dealt with tariff-driven sticker shock. As a result, 2025 marked a significant change in consumer behavior as shoppers across the board sought value and deals. That shift is likely to persist through 2026, increasing pressure on retailers to use markdowns to move inventory. The risk isnt that retailers will discount, its that discounting becomes the strategy rather than the symptom. WHEN DISCOUNTS COST MORE THAN THEY DELIVER Kohls offers a useful illustration of this tension. In the third quarter of 2025, the retailer reported a modest year-over-year increase in gross margin, while operating income declined amid softer sales. The results underscore how difficult it can be to translate promotional activity and operational improvements into sustained profitability when demand remains under pressure. This dynamic isnt unique to Kohls. Shifting consumer preferences, lingering supply-chain complexity, and intensified competition have forced many retail leaders to make difficult decisions about pricing and inventory. Target faced a similar challenge in 2022, when excess inventoryparticularly in home and apparelprompted the company to take decisive markdown and inventory-reduction actions. While those moves helped rebalance inventory levels, they also weighed on near-term profitability. More recently, Lululemon has contended with elevated promotional activity amid signs of slowing demand in the U.S. and increased competition in the athleisure category from brands like Vuori and Athleta. Analysts have pointed to higher markdown levels as retailers across the space work to maintain traffic and manage inventory in a more competitive environment. Taken together, these examples reflect a broader pattern in retail: promotions can help stabilize revenue in the short term, but they dont always improve operating leverage or long-term customer value. Discounts move inventorybut they rarely move customer lifetime value in the same direction. WHY DISCOUNTING FEELS INEVITABLE BUT ISNT SUSTAINABLE Discounting has intuitive appeal. In a crowded market with shrinking discretionary budgets, deals cut through the noise. Spending trends underscore just how price-sensitive shoppers have become, with a growing percentage planning holiday-season purchases early and hunting for discounts across channels. Yet this rush to save can produce a dangerous feedback loop: 1. Shoppers learn to wait for deals. 2. Brands feel pressured to offer deeper discounts. 3. Margins shrink, forcing even steeper promotions next cycle. Over time, this turns what should be a preference decision into a pricing decision, and pricing decisions rarely build durable brands. LOYALTY IS BUILT BEYOND THE TRANSACTION If discounting tells a shopper, Buy now because its cheap, then true loyalty says, Buy again because it matters. The difference is subtle, but profound. Loyalty isnt a transaction with a strike price; its a series of experiences that make a customer feel recognized, appreciated, and connected. It doesnt live at checkout. Its built in the moments of fulfillment, engagement, and emotional connection that follow. Yet many retail strategies still prioritize pre-purchase price incentives over post-purchase relationship building. Thats why promotions dominate inboxes, but customer lifetime value stagnates. A BETTER PATH FORWARD Some brands are finding a way out of this loop by shifting emphasis away from discounts and toward experience-led value. This includes deploying value-oriented pricing structures that dont train customers to wait for sales. Retailers can also offer post-purchase experiences that reinforce brand affinity without discount hooks. They can also provide more personalized engagement that acknowledges the shopper as an individual rather than a deal seeker. Retailers who embrace these strategies in 2026 signal something important: you matter to us, not just your wallet. And that distinction, over time, fuels repeat business in a way discounts never can. Discounts will always have a placeespecially during peak shopping seasons when consumer attention is fragmented and competitive pressure is intense. But when discounting becomes the foundation of a pricing strategy rather than a tactical lever, it eats into profits and inwardly rewires customer expectations. The retailers that will win in 2026 and beyond wont be the ones offering the biggest discounts. Theyll be the ones who understand how customers remember brands, through moments of appreciation, relevance, and experience that extend beyond the transaction. As the past holiday season showed, even the most sophisticated retailers can fall into the trap of equating promotional volume with lasting value. The brands that win in the long run will resist that reflexand instead focus on creating moments that customers remember, not just prices they respond to. Elery Pfeffer is the CEO at Nift.
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E-Commerce
You wouldnt pay a surgeon to file your tax return, and you wouldnt ask your accountant to perform your appendectomy. The same is true for AI: Organizations should start realizing that different AI providers excel at different needs, from coding to specialized research or creative design. Over the coming year, enterprises will absorb a variety of these AI providers technologies in earnest and at scaledepartment by department, role by role. Legal teams will standardize on tools like Harvey. Customer service teams will rely on Glean or purpose-built agents. Development teams may choose resources from Anthropic. Marketing, engineering, finance, and HR will similarly gravitate toward AI resources from Microsoft, xAI, or OpenAI, optimized for their specific needs. In other words, enterprises will evolve from the idea that single-provider AI resources will solve their needs to an era of targeted, role-based, or need-based AI. Making matters even more complicated, many AI providers are now beginning to roll out their own browsers. Enterprise leaders thus face a new challenge: how to manage the onslaught of AI needs that are now arriving. HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF Enterprises have been here before. When cloud computing emerged, many dipped their toes in the water by standardizing on a single provider. The logic was simple: fewer vendors, lower cost, less risk. But as cloud usage expanded, different workloads demanded different strengths, and organizations diversified their cloud infrastructure. The same dynamic emerged with data platforms. Early efforts focused on centralized applications like data lakes, but as use cases multiplied, organizations often found that no single system served every real-world use case equally well. Most enterprises responded by adopting multiple tools around a shared data foundation. In both cases, organizations that had prepared themselves for flexibility were better positioned. AI is following this same trajectory, only faster. And unlike cloud or data infrastructure, AI adoption isnt happening quietly behind the scenes. Its happening in daily workflows across departments, often without central coordination. Leaders can therefore best help their organizations succeed by embracing many tools, each chosen for what it does best, while managing them through shared controls. THE RISK OF AI TOOL SPRAWL As AI systems and use cases proliferate, failing to prepare poses real risks to the enterprise. This proliferation extends beyond standalone AI tools. Increasingly, SaaS applications from CRM systems and productivity suites to finance and HR platforms embed their own AI. In many cases, AI adoption will happen by default, not by deliberate choice. With these tools, teams will also inherit fragmented security policies, inconsistent controls, and limited visibility. Tools that seem harmless in isolation can create meaningful risk in aggregate. This is the rise of shadow AI: systems introduced to solve real problems, but without the oversight to manage them responsibly. With agentic AI, where systems act on users behalf, those risks compound: permissions expand and accountability becomes harder to trace. If these tools are left unchecked, leaders will lose sight of where AI is used, what data it touches, and which systems act autonomously on the organization’s behalf. Experimentation and innovation should not be allowed to scale faster than oversight. GOVERNANCE IS THE MISSING LAYER Multimodal flexibility does not have to come at the expense of visibility and security. Again, we have been here before. With SaaS, enterprises dont manage a wide variety of capabilities by forcing everyone onto one system. They manage it by establishing shared controls across many tools. Enterprises need a governance layer that sits above all AI vendors. That layer should provide: Visibility across AI usage Policy enforcement independent of model provider Guardrails for data access Safe experimentation Support for bringing your own device, contractors, and distributed teams Governance doesnt restrict freedom. It enables it by allowing organizations to choose every model they want and assign them across their teams without introducing new risk. And true governance cant rely on technology alone. Leaders must cultivate a culture of AI literacy, where every employee can confidently evaluate, validate, combine, and challenge AI systems. Then organizations can embrace a multitude of AI tools, safely, and effectively. PREPARE FOR MULTI-MODEL SUCCESS Much like SaaS, the cloud, and data platforms before it, AI will soon spread across roles, workflows, and applications. Leaders that build in the capacity to manage all these modelsthrough visibility, governance, and an AI-fluent workforcewill be best positioned to capture all of AIs advantages without compromising safety, trust, or control. Steve Tchejeyan is president of Island.
Category:
E-Commerce
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