2023 From the Board of Advertisement’s Eyes

Like every year, the Board of Advertisement continued to inspect advertisements in 2023 and impose sanctions on practices that violated the provisions of Law No. 6502 on the Protection of Consumers and the Regulation on Commercial Advertisement and Unfair Commercial Practices. Although the inspections were multifaceted, the decisions taken on certain issues indicate more clearly the basic perspective and expectations in terms of compliance with the legislation.

One of the topics on the agenda of the Board of Advertisement is "disguised advertisements". Many well-known names in Türkiye and even many news agencies have faced sanctions for this malpractice. For instance, in the case numbered 2023/7312, in an article published by a news agency on its website, the Board decided to suspend the advertisement and impose an administrative fine of 347.128-TL. The Board argued that the promotion of the relevant product was a disguised advertisement of the product and the article, therefore, went beyond both purposes of providing news and enlightening/informing the consumers.

Today, it is an undeniable fact that advertising through brand ambassadors/influencers on social media platforms is highly effective. Such ads continued to remain on the radar of the Board of Advertisement in 2023 and important steps were taken in terms of advertising activities carried out on social media. One such example was the audit conducted on the brand ambassador/influencer in the file numbered 2023/7315. The Board considered that although the social media accounts of the brands whose products were promoted had been tagged in the relevant post and thus consumers were directed to the brands, the post did not contain any phrases specifying an advertisement or cooperation. For this reason, the Board ruled that the advertisement was implicit and decided to impose an advertisement suspension penalty.

Yet, another point where the impact of the internet is underscored is the authority of the Advertisement Board to block access to content/websites. With its decision dated 13.09.2023 and numbered 2022/70 E. and 2023/152 K. and published in the Official Gazette numbered 32352 dated 27.10.2023, the Board had been exercising such authority. These came before the Constitutional Court's decision which annulled the authority of the Advertisement Board to block access to websites.  As a matter of fact, the Board of Advertisement resorted to this power to block access to certain websites, a significant portion of which contained psychic/magic/phantasm promotions. The Board of Advertisement decided to block access to these websites on the grounds that their ads had exploited the consumers' religious beliefs, fears, and superstitions. Case No. 2023/6589 and Case No. 2023/6592 are examples of such decisions. In another case, the Board determined that the expressions used in the advertisements examined in the file numbered 2023/5862 violated the regulations on health declarations and decided to block access to the websites in addition to the penalty of stopping the advertisements. In yet another case in the file numbered 2023/6967, electronic cigarettes were promoted and sold in a website by using their images accompanied with demand-generating statements on their taste and aroma. The Board ruled to block access to the entire website.

It is possible to categorize some of the large-scale inspections under the heading of “health claims”. In these decisions, certain statements in the promotions are accepted as health claims. Health claims in promotions are subject to certain conditions under the legislation now in force. When these conditions are not met and/or the necessary permissions have not been obtained, the advertisements have been suspended and - depending on the nature of the advertisement - administrative fines have been imposed. One such example is the file numbered 2023/7947. In the advertisements of a product the following statement was included: "Specially formulated with pantothenic acid, that contributes to normal mental performance." The Board held that the statement went beyond the health declarations permitted in the Guideline on the Use of Health Declarations in Food and Food Supplements and decided to suspend the advertisements. In the file numbered 2023/6336, however, the Board imposed an administrative fine of 347.128-TL on the advertiser.

The final category of decisions rendered in 2023 can be dubbed "unauthorized service". In this context, many service centers came under scrutiny and penalties were imposed on businesses that made advertisements and unfair commercial practices that falsely gave the impression to consumers that they were the authorized service of a well-known brand. In the file numbered 2023/7081, the enterprise in question had placed sponsored advertisements on internet search engines to rank high to create the impression that it was an authorized service of a famous brand. Since there was no commercial relationship between the advertiser and the brand, an advertisement suspension penalty was imposed against the advertiser for misleading the consumers.