The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2026
Qatar Airways' 'Travel consciously' carbon-offset claims were ruled misleading
LinkedIn ads told passengers buying 'Beyond Business' offsets they could offset 'past and future flights' — the ASA found no evidence the flights were offset.
Qatar Airways · 2026-07-15
What happened
Qatar Airways ran two paid ads on LinkedIn for its 'Beyond Business' voluntary carbon offsetting scheme. One told travellers to 'bulk offset the carbon emissions for your past and future flights'; the other invited them to 'Travel consciously by offsetting your flight's carbon footprint'.
A complainant challenged whether the ads misleadingly implied the flights would be fully offset and their environmental impact reduced. The ads carried a link to the scheme's terms, but the ASA judged the claims on the ads themselves.
The ASA upheld the complaint. The evidence did not show that purchasing the offsets would result in the flights being fully offset, nor that the environmental impact of the flights would be reduced. The claims therefore had not been substantiated.
The ads breached CAP Code rules 3.1 and 3.7 on misleading advertising and substantiation, and 11.1 and 11.3 on environmental claims. They must not appear again in the complained-of form.
Why it happened
- 'Fully offset' is a promise of outcome, and the airline did not hold the evidence that the outcome happened
- The fine print was one click away, but the claim that sold the ticket was the sentence in the ad
- Offsetting is a growing-for-profit scheme, and the strict environmental bar caught the gap between the pitch and the papers
The lesson
An environmental promise is a measurable claim. If the offset scheme cannot show the flights were actually offset, the ad that says so is misleading — no matter how genuine the scheme intends to be.
Aftermath
The ASA upheld the complaint on 15 July 2026 under CAP Code rules 3.1, 3.7, 11.1 and 11.3. The Qatar Airways Group QCSC t/a Qatar Airways was told the ads must not appear again without adequate substantiation.
Sources
spotted an error? The club wants to know.
More like this
Simplicity Cremations' 'funeral plan' ads hid that no one attends the cremation
Warner Bros' The Mummy ad was banned — its 'dead child' poster sat near a nursery
Jaded London's holiday email glamorised smoking — the ASA banned it
Somewhere, someone solved the problem this company failed at. 2nd Opinion →
Comments · 0
Sign in to join the comments.