Advertising Board Decisions Against Commercial Practices

Strict Supervision of the Advertising Board Against the Commercial Practices Continues!

In the meetings held on May 16, 2024 and June 11, 2024, the Advertisement Board ("Board") of the Ministry of Commerce of the Republic of Türkiye focused on advertisements and commercial practices affecting the economic preferences and interests of consumers and ruled that almost the majority of the files examined in terms of advertisements and unfair commercial practices that deceive, mislead, exploit the lack of experience and knowledge of consumers are contrary to the legislation and decided to impose administrative fines amounting to TRY 33,844,728 in total together with suspension and/or correction penalties on such advertisements and commercial practices.

At these meetings of the Board;

— The Board decided to suspend the discount campaigns on the grounds that such campaigns mislead consumers and create the impression that more discounts are being offered to consumers since the discount campaigns are carried out in a way to create an indefinite and continuous discount perception.

— The Board decided to suspend such advertisements and practices on the grounds that the sale periods of the products within the scope of the campaign with discounted prices are shorter than the sale periods with non-discounted prices, making it difficult for consumers to receive information about price changes and creating a perception of continuous discounts in the eyes of consumers.

— The Board evaluated that the use of expressions such as "mother's recipe", "mother's formula", and "mother's touch", which emphasize the equivalence of these fast-moving consumer goods, which are subjected to various production processes, to the products prepared by mothers in the promotion of products whose target audience is the sensitive consumer group children, misleads consumers and therefore violates the legislation and decided to suspend such advertisements.

— The Board examined the use of "environmental statements" in advertisements in order to prevent consumers from being misled by misdirecting their shopping preferences by taking advantage of their tendency to make environmentally sensitive choices through the method called greenwashing. In addition, the Board decided to impose administrative sanctions on the advertisements of different companies operating in the food, clothing and consumer durables sectors on the grounds that the general environmental statements such as "nature friendly", "cares about nature as much as you do", "climatefriendly" were used in a way to cause uncertainty among consumers without providing the necessary information and that these environmental claims could not be proven.

— In order to protect the health and economic interests of consumers, the Board imposed sanctions on counterfeit footwear promotions published on social media, as these products are presented as an imitation or copy of another good or service with a protected trademark or trade name.

— In order to protect the rights of consumers against misleading practices that may arise in relation to products with geographical indications, the Board decided to suspend advertisements such as "Ayvalık Olive Oil", "Ayvalık Organic Olive Oil" and "Ayvalık Extra Virgin Olive Oil", which are produced in violation of the geographical indication registration and use such expressions in advertisements.

You can access the full press releases regarding the decisions taken at the Board meetings held on May 16, 2024 and June 11, 2024 here.

Please note that the press releases are only published in Turkish.