Advertising Board Imposed Sanctions on November Discounts

Decisions Taken Against Deceptive Advertisements and Unfair Commercial Practices

At the meeting numbered 351 of the Advertising Board held on 12 November 2024, advertising and unfair commercial practices that deceive and mislead consumers and cause consumer victimization by exploiting their lack of experience and knowledge were examined.

The decisions generally focus on the following issues:

▪️ Companies use misleading expressions in their advertisements by giving false or incomplete information to consumers

▪️ Failure to adequately explain the features, limitations or usage details of the product or service

▪️ Discounted prices are inconsistent with previous prices or do not specify that promotional prices are subject to certain conditions

▪️ Companies encourage transactions to the detriment of consumers by providing consumers with misleading information that may affect their economic behaviour

▪️ Commercial strategies exploit consumers' lack of information and create misleading expectations

The Advertising Board Identified Violations in 151 Cases, Imposed Fines Totaling TRY 19.6 Million, and Issued Access Blocking Order

As a result of the evaluation, 151 out of 164 reviewed cases were found to be in violation of regulations.

In this context:

▪️ Administrative fines of TRY 19,616,776 were imposed on advertisements and commercial practices that directly affect consumers' shopping preferences.

▪️ Precautionary suspension measures were applied to 2 cases due to insufficient information. Additionally, access-blocking sanctions were issued for 29 cases.

General Statistics for 2024

In the first 11 months of 2024, the Advertising Board made opinions and assessments on a total of 1,704 files. It was decided to impose a suspension penalty, a total administrative fine of TRY 223,939,186 and an access ban on 1,509 files that were found to be deceptive advertisements or unfair commercial practices.

November Discounts and Measures Taken Against Consumer Victimisation

The Advertising Board conducts special inspections during discount periods, and as a result of the inspections carried out in November, 12 out of 14 files were found to be in violation of the legislation.

The Board makes the following recommendations to protect consumers from victimisation:

▪️ Determining Needs Before Shopping: List your prioritised needs to avoid unnecessary expenditures.

▪️ Seller and Provider Review: Check the reliability of the seller or provider by doing preliminary research.

▪️ Price Comparison: Be sure to compare the price of the product or service you want to buy compared to other peers.

▪️ Attention to Discount Rates: Question whether the discounts are realistic and transparent.

▪️ Website Security: Make sure that the shopping website belongs to the seller and check security elements such as SSL certificate and 3D security.

▪️ Social Media Redirects: Be careful when making transactions on pages redirected through social media.

▪️ Preliminary Information: Carefully read the preliminary information texts provided by the seller before the purchase.