The Advertising Board identified violations in 131 out of 141 cases. It was decided to impose suspension and a total of 32.5 million lira in administrative fines for the advertisements.

An announcement from the Ministry of Commerce stated that out of 141 files reviewed during the Board’s meeting on March 13, 131 were found to be in violation of regulations, with a suspension decision made for one file. The announcement highlighted that in addition to suspension penalties for the files in violation of regulations, 32,481,507 lira in administrative fines were imposed, and in 5 files, access restrictions were imposed to prevent consumer grievances. The announcement emphasized that the meeting addressed advertisements and commercial practices affecting consumers’ economic choices and benefits, pointing out issues such as discount sales in the clothing sector, technology promotions failing to deliver specified features, or misleading advertisements promising zero-interest rates. In particular, the announcement mentioned that one of the inspections closely followed by the Advertising Board was related to discounted sales campaigns in the clothing sector.

For 8 files found to be non-compliant after the inspection, an administrative fine of 4.8 million lira was imposed. The announcement noted that while an advertisement by a technology sector company suggested that all mobile phone models in the same category had a special feature, it was found that some models in this category did not possess the stated feature, which led to the omission of relevant information in the advertisement, potentially influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions. Consequently, administrative sanctions were imposed due to the misleading nature of these advertisements.

Examinations were conducted on advertisements for zero-interest credit, with the announcement pointing out the recent trend of automotive companies focusing on campaigns featuring a “zero interest” theme. It was noted that despite there being a “cash interest payment” in the automotive sector, advertisements prominently stated the credit interest rate as “zero percent,” manipulating consumer preferences by misleadingly presenting zero-interest deals. The announcement further highlighted that the required annual and monthly cost rates indicating the total cost of the credit were not provided in advertisements mentioning the interest rate, affecting consumers’ ability to select the most suitable credit offer and hindering fair competition in the industry. As a result, the announcements were temporarily suspended due to being considered misleading.

Furthermore, discrepancies were identified between the descriptions of some shoes sold in Turkey and those advertised on foreign websites, where the use of pigskin in the product components was disclosed, while the product descriptions on Turkish sales pages used terms such as “leather” or “natural leather.” It was revealed that 4 companies were issued suspension penalties and an administrative fine of 3,457,160 lira for inadequately informing consumers about product contents.