Ministry of Trade imposes fines for hidden price hikes and deceptive advertising

The Ministry of Trade announced that the Advertising Board has imposed a total of 11 million 693 thousand 933 TL in administrative fines for hidden price hikes made through weight manipulation, as well as for advertisements that do not comply with regulations, such as those involving 'exploitation of beliefs' and 'baby water'.

In its statement, the Ministry of Trade included the following: "It has been determined that in 2 cases, unit prices were secretly increased by reducing the measurement units such as weight, quantity, and mass of products offered for sale to consumers while keeping the packaging and sales prices unchanged, which went unnoticed by consumers and thereby manipulated their purchasing decisions; administrative fines and suspension penalties have been imposed regarding these files. As the Ministry of Trade, our efforts continue with maximum sensitivity to prevent grievances that consumers may suffer due to content production that does not comply with commercial ethics, actions contrary to regulations, and misleading or incorrect information that influences their preferences and behaviors in their final purchases."

ACCESS BLOCKED TO CONTENT INVOLVING MEDIUMS/WITCHCRAFT/FORTUNE-TELLING THAT EXPLOITS CONSUMERS' BELIEFS AND EMOTIONS

The Ministry also blocked access to content involving mediums/witchcraft/fortune-telling that exploits the beliefs and emotions of consumers. The following was noted in the statement:

"It has been determined that promotions for mediums/witchcraft/fortune-telling, which are accessed through social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram as well as various websites and which exploit the beliefs and emotions of consumers through fear, pressure, and superstitions, are contrary to the provision in the Advertising Legislation stating that 'Advertisements for services provided by fortune-tellers, mediums, astrologers, and the like... cannot be made in any way.' A decision has been made to impose a suspension penalty for these advertisements on 39 websites and to implement measures to block access to these sites."

News Source: 12punto