Total of 32.5 million TL in fines imposed for misleading advertisements

In a statement issued by the Ministry, it was noted that the Advertising Board, operating under the Ministry of Trade, held its 355th meeting on March 13, 2025, and stated, "Out of the 141 files decided upon by the Board, 131 were found to be in violation of regulations, and a precautionary suspension decision was issued for 1 file. It was decided to impose a suspension penalty along with a total of 32 million 481 thousand 507 TL in administrative fines for the files found to be in violation of regulations, and additionally, an administrative measure of access blocking was decided for 5 files in order to prevent consumer grievances." 

According to the statement, the meeting, which addressed advertisements and commercial practices that directly affect the economic choices and interests of consumers, covered topics such as discounted sales in the ready-to-wear sector, incomplete information regarding products in the technology sector not possessing stated features or these features being unusable in our country, and misleading advertisements presented with zero-interest promises.

UNREALISTIC DISCOUNTED SALES IN THE READY-TO-WEAR SECTOR EXAMINED 

The Advertising Board conducted one of its sectoral audits, which closely monitors discount sales campaigns, in the ready-to-wear sector. As a result of the examinations, violations were detected in 8 files, and it was decided to impose a total of 4 million 800 thousand TL in administrative fines.

With the audits it conducted, especially during this period when exorbitant price allegations are on the agenda, the Advertising Board aims to; "Prevent the manipulation of consumer preferences by blocking the false perception of discounts created through unrealistically high prices, reduce the negative effects on consumer welfare of marketing practices that create the impression that a higher discount is being made than is actually the case or that the discount is for such a short time that it leaves no room for thought by putting pressure on consumer will, and prevent unfair competition from harming the country's economy."

PRODUCT ADVERTISEMENTS THAT DO NOT POSSESS THE FEATURES PROMISED IN THE ADVERTISEMENT EXAMINED 

A company operating in the technology sector created the impression that all mobile phone models under the same category possessed a special feature, while failing to provide information that some models did not have this feature. Since this situation caused consumers to be misled and constituted deceptive advertising, an administrative sanction was applied.

A "Voice Recognition Feature" video shared on an automotive company's social media account in Turkey could not be actively used due to infrastructure in our country, despite being available in the vehicle's hardware package. For this reason, a sanction was applied on the grounds that the advertisement did not reflect the truth and consumers were misled.

In the automotive sector, some companies advertised with a "0 percent interest" campaign, but this information was not stated in the advertisement even though there was actually an upfront interest payment. In addition, necessary information deficiencies regarding credit interest rates were also detected. A decision was made to suspend such misleading advertisements as a precautionary measure. 

THOSE WHO FAILED TO PROVIDE COMPLETE INFORMATION BY DISREGARDING CONSUMER SENSITIVITY WERE NOT TOLERATED 

It was determined that although some shoes offered for sale in Turkey were stated to contain pigskin in their product components in promotions published on foreign websites, expressions such as "leather" and "natural leather" were used in the product descriptions on the sales page in Turkey. The Advertising Board decided to impose a suspension penalty along with 3 million 457 thousand 160 TL in administrative fines on 4 companies found to have provided incomplete information to consumers regarding product content.