The Advertising Board Chronicles: Unveiling Influencer Ad Decisions – No. 1

Instagram Posts Not Conforming to the Guideline

Today, conducting advertising activities through social media platforms that reach a high number of users, such as "Instagram", "TikTok", "Facebook", and "Youtube", has become inevitable. These advertising activities can be carried out through official accounts of brands as well as in collaboration with social media influencers. As a result, it is observed that penalties are imposed on social media influencers in accordance with the "Guideline on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices Made by Social Media Influencers" ("Guideline") prepared by the Advertising Board ("Board") for commercial advertising and unfair commercial practices made by social media influencers.

In the first part of our article series, examples of decisions regarding advertisements that were sanctioned by the Board and were not in compliance with the Guidelines made through social media influencers are given.

1- Decision of “Rachel Araz” No. 2022/5738

It was determined that official accounts of certain brands were tagged in the posts on the Instagram page belonging to the social media influencer.

Following the examination conducted by the Board, it was evaluated that the mentioned products and brands were advertised by directing consumers who clicked on the tagged official social media accounts of the brands, but without any advertisement or collaboration statement being included in the posts. Consequently, it was deemed that the brands had engaged in covert advertising by directing consumers towards the mentioned products and brands. As a result, the influencer was ordered to pay an administrative fine of TRY 155.712,00 and to suspension the aforementioned advertisements.

2- Decision of “Sedef Kasabalı” No. 2022/4782

In the posts on the Instagram page of the social media influencer, it was determined that the official accounts of the brand were labelled by including expressions to advertise a product.

Upon examination by the Board, it was determined that in the relevant post, while advertising the product in question, a "collaboration" statement was included in a font size smaller than the tagged official account of the product. Therefore, it was evaluated that the statement was not presented in a way that could be easily noticed by consumers at first glance, taking into account the interface and technical features of the platform where the post was shared. As a result, a decision was made to impose a suspension of these advertisements penalty on the social media influencer.

3- Decision of “Aslıhan Doğan Turan” No. 2022/4273

It has been determined that the social media influencer included tags of certain brands and individuals in the posts on their Instagram account. As a result of the examinations carried out by the Board:

• In the posts, the social media accounts of the aforementioned brands and persons were tagged, so that the consumers who clicked on the said tags were directed to the corporate social media accounts where the goods or services were promoted and marketed, but no advertisement phrase was included in the posts, thus implicit advertising of the brands was made by directing to the aforementioned products and brands,
• In the posts made in the "Story" section, it has been evaluated that the phrases #advertising #cooperation are included in small font size and white coloured text, thus, the said labels are not presented in an easily readable and visible manner so that consumers can notice them at first glance,

Therefore, it has been decided to impose suspension of these advertisements on the social media influencer.

In line with the Board decisions mentioned above, in cases where advertising postings made on social media platforms violate the prohibition of covert advertising, such as the absence of advertising expressions or the presentation of these expressions in a way that can be easily read and visible at first glance for consumers, administrative fines and cessation penalties may be imposed. To avoid facing such penalties, it is important to pay attention to producing content in compliance with the Guideline and other relevant regulations.

You may access the details of these decisions via this link.

This article was first published on nsn-law.com.

Tagged with:  NSN Law, Bilge Derinbay, Hande Ulker Pehlivan, İrem Sevinç Cantürk, Media, Entertainment