Legislative Amendment:Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices

The Regulation on Amending the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices, which introduces comprehensive changes regarding many aspects of advertisements, was published on the Official Gazette dated July 1, 2026. The amendments, which will enter into force on August 1, 2026, are explained below.

• Use of Academic Titles in Advertisements: As a rule, advertisements are prohibited from containing any statements or imagery that may directly or indirectly mislead consumers. The use of academic titles such as "Prof." and "Dr." in advertisements has also been added as an example of misleading statements.

• Comparison of Food Supplements: The provision regarding the absolute comparative advertising ban on food supplements has been repealed; and it has been regulated that these products, just like ordinary foods, cannot be subjected to comparison solely with respect to matters falling within the scope of health claims in accordance with the relevant legislation.

• Determination of the Price Prior to the Discount: A rule has been introduced stipulating that, in advertisements regarding the sale of goods, the lowest price applied within the 10 days preceding the start date of the discount shall be taken as the basis for determining the price prior to the discount. Prior to the amendment, this period was regulated as 30 days.

Regarding the determination of the pre-discount price of goods or services offered for sale through different sales channels, it has been regulated that the price applied in one sales channel cannot be taken as the basis for discounted sales to be made in other channels.

In addition, it has been regulated that discounted sales advertisements offered within the scope of loyalty programs that are easily accessible by consumers (e.g., by downloading an application or becoming a member via a quick transaction at the checkout) and conditional sales campaigns (e.g. "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" campaigns) shall also be subject to the rules on discounted sales.

• Advertisements with Environmental Claims: A definition for the environmental claim has been added to the legislation as "any statement or visual regarding a good or service concerning its component, production, placement on the market, presentation, use, or disposal process, indicating that it provides environmental benefit or that its negative impact on the environment is reduced or nonexistent”.

In addition, it has been made mandatory to verify environmental claims containing terms such as "eco-friendly", "sustainable", and "natural" with documents obtained from authorized institutions and organizations, relevant departments of universities, or accredited or independent research, test, and evaluation organizations.

At the same time, the principles of clarity, non-misleadingness, and absence of ambiguity have been adopted for environmental claims. In this direction, the use of general-purpose environmental concepts in advertisements in a way that creates ambiguity or without explanation has been prohibited.

In addition to this, it has become a legal obligation to clearly state in the advertisement which part, component, or stage in the life cycle of the good or service the environmental claims relate to, and to include explanatory information regarding the measurement or evaluation methods of environmental impacts either in the advertisement, on a directed website, or in a pop-up screen.

• Use of Artificial Intelligence in Advertisements: The use of artificial intelligence technologies in advertisements in a way that significantly influences the economic behavior of the consumers has been made subject to the condition of transparency. Accordingly, in the event that artificial intelligence or another software is used in the advertisement, or digital characters that cannot be distinguished from humans using artificial intelligence technologies are featured, it has been made mandatory to state this situation in a clear, understandable, and distinguishable manner.

Additionally, it is explicitly prohibited to create advertisements in which a digital copy of a real person, created using artificial intelligence, creates the impression that they have experienced, used, or recommended a good or service in a misleading manner.

• Advertisements Made via Social Media Influencers: The core principles determined by the Guideline on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices Made by Social Media Influencers, published by the Ministry of Trade in 2021, have been added to the legislation as a new provision.

In this context, social media is primarily defined as "the environment that enables users to create, view, or share content such as text, image, audio, and location in the internet environment for the purpose of social interaction," and a social media influencer is defined as "a real or legal person who engages in marketing communication by sharing content aimed at promoting a good or service directly or indirectly on behalf of themselves or the advertiser through social media, and converts this communication into any benefit."

In addition to this, comprehensive regulations have been introduced for advertisements made through social media influencers, making compliance with the following matters mandatory:

• Adapting the principles of clarity, comprehensibility, and distinguishability in advertisements,

• Clearly indicating that the content is an advertisement in cases such as directing users to the advertiser, obtaining financial gain or benefits from the advertiser, sharing content regarding sweepstakes, contests, or campaigns organized for promotional purposes, or obtaining benefits in exchange for participating in the event,

• Using either the term "Ad" or "Promotion" in the advertising content,

• Using expressions that clearly reveal the identity of the advertiser in the content,

• Presenting and positioning tags and disclosures stating that the post is an advertisement in a way that is distinct, easily readable, catches attention at first sight, is clearly distinguishable from other tags or disclosures, and does not overlap with any text or icon,

• Paying attention to the specified matters for each individual post in cases where the advertising content is spread across multiple posts, takes place in different posting formats, or references another posting format,

• Including the phrase "contains advertising/promotional content about [advertiser]" at the beginning of the broadcast and prior to the advertisement to be broadcast, in audio-only advertisements.

• Advertisements with Interest and Profit Share Rates: Amendments have been made to ensure that the rules currently applied to advertisements featuring both interest and profit share rates together are also applied to advertisements featuring only an interest or profit share rate by itself.

• Targeted Advertising: Targeted advertising has been defined as "the activity of presenting advertisements specifically tailored to certain individuals or groups by analyzing consumers' online behaviors, historical records regarding their preferences, location information, demographic data, or similar personal data, by sellers, providers, or intermediary service providers acting as intermediaries for the establishment of distance contracts on their behalf".

In this context, it has been made mandatory to provide consumers with easily accessible information regarding the criteria based on which advertisements presented to the consumer are displayed and how the consumer can change these criteria.

Additionally, targeted advertising based on personal data has been prohibited in cases where it is known or expected to be known that the consumer is a child.

• Categories of Goods or Services Subject to Advertising Prohibition:

  • The existing advertising prohibition on illegal betting and gambling games has been expanded, and "illegal games of chance" have also been included within the scope of the prohibition.

  • The general provision regarding the advertisements of human medicinal products, electronic cigarettes, tobacco products, and alcoholic beverages (which are subject to an advertising prohibition under their specific legislation) has been removed, and a paragraph explicitly stating that the advertisement of these products is prohibited has been added. When considered together with the amendment made on June 20, 2026, to Law No. 4250 on the Monopoly of Spirits and Alcoholic Beverages, which stipulates that producers, importers, and marketers of alcoholic beverages cannot support publications and shares made in any medium with their trade titles, brands, emblems, logos, or expressions, figures, names, and visuals located on the product packaging, and that they cannot be kept inside, outside, in the windows, sales units, and any event areas of workplaces. This has resulted in the advertising prohibition on alcoholic beverages being made clearer.

  • Advertisements that give the impression that food supplements are substitutes for foods consumed as part of a normal diet are prohibited.

  • It has been regulated that information regarding prizes that are not based on pre-announced objective criteria and are given in exchange for a benefit cannot be included in goods and services advertisements directed at consumers.

• Consumer Reviews: Consumer reviews have been defined in the legislation as "any expression, approval, and rating indicating a consumer experience made by consumers on the internet, including comments regarding the nature, promotion, sale, delivery, ancillary contracts such as credit and insurance, or use of a good or service offered to consumers, including production processes, as well as rating practices such as scores or stars."

In addition, changes have been made regarding the following matters concerning consumer reviews:

• It has been regulated that consumer reviews obtained from platforms where verification is not possible cannot be published or used in advertisements.

• It has been regulated that the principles and rules regarding the publication of consumer reviews cannot be determined in a way that prevents consumers from making reviews or restricts them to specific subjects.

• It has been regulated that in cases where consumer reviews are published by being separated under different headings, all of these reviews must be accessible, clear, understandable, and distinguishable.

• The use of consumer reviews from the internet in other platforms has been made conditional upon honesty reflecting the nature of the content and rating.

• Lastly, the response period granted to sellers and providers regarding negative reviews has been reduced from 72 hours to 48 hours, and it has been regulated that if no response is given within this period, the review will be published directly.

Authors: Hatice Ekici Tağa, Sümeyye Uçar, Yasemin Abay