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In Türkiye, the advertising, promotion, and similar activities related to alcoholic beverages are prohibited across all communication channels, including television…
Turkey
Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
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In Türkiye, the advertising, promotion, and similar
activities related to alcoholic beverages are prohibited across all
communication channels, including television, radio, cinema, print
media, and digital platforms. Therefore, it is not permitted to
promote or advertise alcoholic beverage brands in any way. This
restriction also includes advertisements made through social media
influencers. The Advertisement Board has scrutinised hidden
advertisements of alcoholic beverage brands conducted through
social media influencers. As a result, it has imposed
administrative sanctions such as cessation of such promotional and
advertising activities and issued administrative monetary fines to
both advertisers and the social media influencers involved.
The Advertisement Board reviewed the posts of a social media
influencer in 2024, which featured advertisements for various
alcoholic beverage products on their social media page. Upon
examination, the Board found that in these posts, images of a
variety of alcoholic beverage products were displayed openly
showing their brand names and distinctive elements, with the
products facing the camera in a way that made them clearly visible.
Further investigation of the social media account revealed that no
other branded products from different sectors available to
consumers were featured, and the only commercial products shown in
the posts were the mentioned alcoholic beverages. This indicated
that the posts utilised imagery and implications designed to
generate consumer demand, effectively constituting advertisements
for alcoholic beverages despite such promotions being prohibited by
law. Additionally, the content was shared in a format that
presented personal preferences and experiences, without explicitly
stating that it was an advertisement or including any clarifying
labels such as “sponsored” or “collaboration”.
As a result, the Board concluded that these posts constituted
hidden advertising and decided to impose a penalty of cessation of
the advertisements.
The Advertisement Board also examined various posts shared by
another influencer on their social media account, including photos
and pinned posts in a fixed folder on their homepage. The
investigation revealed that multiple images featuring a specific
alcoholic beverage brand—along with its distinctive branding
elements—were used, with bottles and glasses positioned to
face the camera in a clearly visible manner. Additionally, the
brand’s social media account was tagged, along with hashtags
such as collaboration, and the influencer shared content expressing
enjoyment of an event hosted by the brand, explicitly mentioning
the brand name. Given this, the Advertisement Board determined that
the influencer’s social media account served as a
“platform” facilitating an event that encouraged the
consumption and sale of alcoholic beverages belonging to the
advertising company. This effectively constituted an advertisement
for alcoholic beverages using demand-generating imagery and
implications, despite such marketing being legally prohibited.
Furthermore, some pinned stories in the folder contained hidden
advertising for the brand, reinforcing the violation. As a result,
the Advertisement Board concluded that these activities were in
clear breach of regulations and imposed an administrative fine on
the social media influencer, along with a penalty of
cease-and-desist regarding the advertisements.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
