Norwegian Football Star Erling Haaland’s Liang Teh Ad Is So Bizarre, It Looks AI

Norwegian football star Erling Haaland is having a moment. While he’s currently busy leading Norway into its first ever World Cup quarterfinal, he’s also breaking the internet for an entirely different reason.

If you’ve been scrolling through social media lately, you may have come across videos of the Manchester City striker chugging bottles of Wang Lao Ji (branded internationally as Walovi), a traditional Chinese liang teh used to combat "heatiness".

The ads are so bizarre that many didn't even stop to ask whether they were AI-generated. They simply assumed they were.

The campaign embraces pure, unfiltered chaos: Haaland breathes fire after tucking into Chinese barbecue skewers, three identical versions of him gulp down herbal tea in uncanny synchrony, and everything is stitched together with an earworm of a jingle chanting, "Haa~land, Haa~land!"

Then comes the kicker. A Mandarin voice over by Haaland saying: “怕上火，喝王老吉” (Afraid of heatiness? drink Wang Lao Ji).”

Between the awkward green-screen effects, the deadpan delivery and the unlikely pairing of a Norwegian football superstar with a 195-year-old Chinese herbal drink brand, it's easy to see why many thought they were watching another AI-generated oddity.

But it's entirely real. Wang Lao Ji has signed Haaland as its global brand ambassador. Now, good luck getting that “Haa~land, Haa~land” jingle out of your head.