Moleskine have dropped a new LOTR range and it’s AI marketed*. I’m ragin’.

Note, the original post content stated AI generated as that was the information Moleskine gave at the time. They have since put on Instagram it was AI marketing. This article still remains as ragin ‘.

The Email That Got Me Excited

There’s Moleskine as a brand. Ok, I know its poser and wankery but cracking out a hard back leather Moleskine notebook full of notes just felt awesome. The paper thickness. The wee pocket in the back. The wee leaflet that tells the story of the brand. The embossed back. I’ve bought one every time I started a new course- uni, teacher training, new jobs… it’s a symbol of serious academia for me.

So damn, I’m the target market, right? I’ll go grab my purse!

Off I go to the website, looking up the new designs. I was excited. I was ready to part with money.

I Was Ready to Buy… Until I Saw It

Then I spot it.

Bloody made with AI.

What. The. Heck.

No.

**Moleskine have now released this comment:

It is still unclear how much human and how much AI has been used. It’s a creative company for crying out loud.

Here’s the Thing About AI

Look, I’m actually pretty pro AI use. I can’t be a Grimes fan and not appreciate the cool stuff AI can do in the right places. I’m even an advocate of using AI in work planning if it helps me save time (‘give me 10 ideas for 5 min starter tasks suitable for 14 year olds’).

But that said, the product should be human. My work, my ideas, my words, my memories, my images are human. I want the products that enhance creativity to be human, especially if that product brands itself on exclusivity and creative sustainability.

Why This Feels So Wrong for Moleskine

Moleskine? They are a company of quality. They’ve done collaborations with designers like Issey Miyake (2025), Steven Harrington (2019), and plenty of official branded merch such as Star Wars and Peanuts. They even did a Lotr collection in 2019 with beautiful original Tolkien maps. They have a budget. They have the people. So why resort to AI?

I couldn’t help looking round their Instagram. Their sustainability policies centre on human creativity. Ironic really.

I closed the tab and raged. Hurt. Betrayed.

The Problem With “AI Slop”

Why was I having such a reaction? The term AI slop exists for a reason. It is the bastard form of original works done on the cheap, stealing a job from a human. Then there was my ego- has my symbol of quality and exclusivity gone the same way as every other brand in this post capitalist hellscape? I’d say I was overreacting but comments agreed with me.

Lotr deserves better, the original Tolkien artworks are masterpieces. The Peter Jackson films are masterpieces. The Amazon TV series…. um, exists. 

Where Was the Explanation?

Does Moleskine have a reason, a major rationale that so solidly explains their lowering of standards despite retaining a £26 price tag?

I can’t find a damn thing. Patented in 1994 as a premium creative notebook and modelled on those used by the greats such as Van Gogh, one would imagine Moleskine would defend quality associated with their brand with an iron fist.

And that’s weird for a brand who makes such a big deal of story telling with their products. Each notebook has a little blurb, a description, a heart warming story allowing you to bond with the notebook.

The silence is telling. Some brands tout their AI use as a USP, showing them to be cutting edge. But this Lotr range? Nothing.

Ragin’.

Pure ragin’.

It’s a sorry day when I’m more willing to forgive Elrond’s wig line in Rings of Power than I am a Moleskine.

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