Press Bulletin on Advertisement Board Meeting No. 354 Published

On 07.03.2025, the Advertising Board (the Board) published the Press Bulletin (the Bulletin) on the Advertising Board Meeting No. 354 dated 13.02.2025. The Bulletin included the advertisements, promotions and commercial practices that the Board examined within the framework of the Law on Consumer Protection and the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices. In this context, the Board imposed administrative fines and/or suspensions on advertisements it deemed violating the legislation. The important evaluations in the Bulletin are summarized below: 

The Board found that the digital platform subscription, which was stated in the promotions that it could be easily canceled at any time, was refunded when canceled, and administrative fines and fines were imposed for suspension of promotion.

In cancelling of a digital platform subscription, the Board considered the fact that the cancellation button is not easily visible and that irrelevant content is displayed during the cancellation process as deceptive commercial practices.

It was indicated that statements without a concrete and provable basis are misleading to consumers. In this context, a suspension penalty was imposed for not comparing with other products and not using a scientific report to promote a product described as the number one product in the world.

The Board evaluated an advertisement containing an English phrase and stated that this could lead to a lack of information for consumers.

The Board determined that some cards did not provide the installment facility specified in the promotion and imposed administrative fines and suspension penalties on the relevant promotion.

The Board examined discount practices and promotions. In this context;

• Promotion that the price was not determined before the discount was deemed contrary to the legislation.
• It was determined that the pre-discount price of a product with a twenty-five percent discount was not the lowest price of the last thirty days, creating a misleading perception of a discount.
• It was determined that some products were not discounted in the store where there was a discount. Penalties were imposed accordingly.

Promotions and practices in the financial services sector were also examined by the Board.

• Although the introduction of the gold account did not specify any restriction on physical delivery, limiting delivery to five units per day was deemed contrary to the legislation.
• The Board determined that the installment campaign did not reflect the reality and imposed a suspension.