Introduction
Advertising is one of the most powerful tools used by businesses to reach consumers, promote products and services, build brand awareness and increase sales. However, advertising activities are not unlimited. In Turkey, commercial advertisements are subject to a detailed legal framework designed to protect consumers, prevent unfair competition, ensure transparency and preserve public trust in the market. This legal framework is generally referred to as Turkish Advertising Law.
Turkish Advertising Law does not consist of a single statute only. Instead, it is formed by several laws, regulations, administrative decisions and sector-specific rules. The most important legal source is Law No. 6502 on the Protection of Consumers, particularly the provisions concerning commercial advertisements, unfair commercial practices and the Advertising Board, known in Turkish as the Reklam Kurulu. According to the Ministry of Trade, commercial advertisements must comply with the principles determined by the Advertising Board and must be lawful, honest, accurate and compatible with public order, general morality and personal rights.
In recent years, advertising law in Turkey has become more complex due to the rapid development of e-commerce, social media marketing, influencer collaborations, targeted advertising, artificial intelligence-generated content, online consumer reviews and environmental claims. The Ministry of Trade announced that amendments published in the Official Gazette on 1 July 2026 introduced new rules covering targeted advertising, AI-generated advertisements, influencer promotions, discount advertising, environmental claims and consumer reviews; many of these rules are intended to strengthen consumer protection in digital markets.
For companies, agencies, influencers, e-commerce platforms and foreign investors operating in Turkey, understanding Turkish Advertising Law is therefore essential. A campaign that appears commercially successful may still create serious legal risks if it contains misleading information, hidden advertising, unverifiable superiority claims, unlawful data processing, improper discount statements or undisclosed sponsorship relationships.
What Is Turkish Advertising Law?
Turkish Advertising Law refers to the set of legal rules that regulate how goods and services may be promoted to consumers in Turkey. It covers traditional advertisements such as television commercials, newspaper ads, billboards and radio spots, as well as digital advertisements including social media posts, sponsored content, influencer marketing, search engine ads, banner ads, targeted online ads, mobile app notifications, e-mail campaigns and SMS marketing.
The purpose of Turkish Advertising Law is not to prohibit advertising. On the contrary, lawful and transparent advertising is considered a legitimate part of commercial life. The law mainly aims to prevent advertisements that mislead consumers, exploit vulnerable groups, distort competition, hide their commercial nature or encourage unlawful practices.
In practice, the most important legal questions are usually the following: Is the advertisement true? Can the advertiser prove the claims made in the campaign? Is the commercial nature of the content clearly disclosed? Does the advertisement create a false impression about price, quality, quantity, health effects, environmental benefits or market superiority? Are consumer data and cookies used lawfully for targeted advertising? Are influencers, celebrities or AI-generated characters used transparently? Are discount rates and previous prices correctly shown? These questions form the core of legal compliance under Turkish Advertising Law.
Main Legal Sources of Advertising Law in Turkey
The first and most important legal source is Law No. 6502 on the Protection of Consumers. This law regulates consumer transactions and includes specific rules on commercial advertisements and unfair commercial practices. Under Article 61, commercial advertisements are marketing communications made by advertisers through written, visual, audio or similar means for the purpose of promoting, informing or persuading the target audience in relation to a product or service.
The second major source is the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices. This regulation sets out detailed principles regarding misleading advertisements, comparative advertisements, discount campaigns, children-focused advertisements, testimonials, health claims, environmental claims, social media advertisements and unfair commercial practices. It is particularly important because the Advertising Board uses this regulation when assessing whether a specific advertisement violates the law.
The third important institution is the Advertising Board, operating under the Ministry of Trade. The Advertising Board examines commercial advertisements and unfair commercial practices, issues decisions, imposes administrative sanctions and publishes guidance documents. In May 2026, for example, the Board reviewed 156 files, found 146 of them unlawful and imposed approximately 23 million Turkish liras in administrative fines; the Board also decided to block access to 17 advertisements.
Other relevant legal sources include Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce, the Commercial Communication and Commercial Electronic Messages Regulation, the Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698, sector-specific legislation such as health, food, finance, pharmaceuticals, tobacco and alcohol rules, as well as unfair competition provisions under the Turkish Commercial Code.
Core Principles of Turkish Advertising Law
The first principle is truthfulness. Advertisements must not contain false or inaccurate statements. A business cannot claim that a product has features it does not actually have. It cannot exaggerate the effect of a service in a way that misleads the average consumer. It cannot present ordinary features as if they were exclusive advantages.
The second principle is substantiation. Advertisers must be able to prove the accuracy of factual claims used in advertisements. Claims such as “the best,” “the fastest,” “clinically proven,” “number one,” “100% effective,” “environmentally friendly,” “lowest price,” “dermatologically tested” or “most preferred brand” should not be used unless they are supported by reliable, current and verifiable evidence. In Turkish advertising practice, the burden of proof is particularly important because unsupported claims may be considered misleading even if the advertiser did not intend to deceive consumers.
The third principle is transparency. Consumers must be able to understand when they are exposed to advertising. Hidden advertising is prohibited. This issue is especially important in influencer marketing, native advertising, advertorial content and product placement. If a post, video, story, review or article has a commercial purpose, this must be clearly disclosed.
The fourth principle is fairness. Advertisements must not abuse consumers’ lack of knowledge, fear, inexperience, age, illness, financial distress or emotional vulnerability. Campaigns aimed at children, elderly consumers or consumers with health concerns are examined more strictly.
The fifth principle is respect for public order, personal rights and general morality. Advertisements must not contain discriminatory, degrading, violent, obscene or socially harmful elements. They must also respect intellectual property rights, personality rights and privacy rights.
Misleading Advertising Under Turkish Law
Misleading advertising is one of the most common violations under Turkish Advertising Law. An advertisement may be misleading not only because it contains false information, but also because it omits essential information, presents information ambiguously or creates a false overall impression.
For example, an e-commerce website may advertise a product as “50% discount” even though the previous price was artificially increased shortly before the campaign. A clinic may imply guaranteed medical results without scientific basis. A cosmetics brand may suggest that a product has medical healing effects although it is only a cosmetic product. A real estate project may advertise social facilities or delivery dates that are not realistically available. A subscription service may emphasize a low monthly price but hide mandatory additional charges.
The legal assessment does not focus only on the literal wording of the advertisement. The Advertising Board evaluates the advertisement as a whole, including visuals, sound, context, design, font size, disclaimers, timing and the likely perception of the average consumer. Small-print disclaimers may not save an advertisement if the main message is misleading.
Comparative Advertising in Turkey
Comparative advertising is not entirely prohibited under Turkish Advertising Law. Businesses may compare their products or services with competitors, provided that the comparison is objective, accurate, verifiable and not misleading. However, comparative advertisements are legally sensitive because they may easily turn into unfair competition or consumer deception.
A lawful comparative advertisement should compare goods or services meeting the same needs or intended for the same purpose. The comparison should be based on measurable and provable criteria such as price, performance, energy consumption, delivery time, durability or customer satisfaction results. It should not unfairly discredit, imitate or exploit a competitor’s brand reputation.
For instance, saying “our product is better than all others” without objective evidence creates risk. On the other hand, saying “according to an independent laboratory test dated X, our product consumed 20% less energy than product Y under the same conditions” may be lawful if the test is reliable and the statement is not taken out of context.
Influencer Marketing and Social Media Advertising
Influencer marketing has become one of the most important areas of Turkish Advertising Law. Influencers often promote products through Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, blogs, podcasts and live broadcasts. These promotions may appear personal, spontaneous or editorial, which creates a risk that consumers may not realize they are seeing an advertisement.
The Ministry of Trade previously published a guide on advertisements made by social media influencers, emphasizing that influencer advertisements must be clearly and understandably identifiable as advertisements and that hidden advertising is prohibited. The 2026 amendments further strengthened this area: where an influencer receives any benefit such as payment, discounted goods, free services or event participation, the content must clearly show its advertising nature by using expressions such as “advertisement” or “promotion.”
This means that brands and influencers must not rely on vague expressions that ordinary consumers may not understand. Hashtags or labels should be visible, clear and placed in a manner that can be noticed before or at the moment the consumer engages with the content. The disclosure should not be hidden among many unrelated hashtags. It should not be placed only at the end of a long caption if the commercial nature of the post is not otherwise clear.
Both the advertiser and the influencer may face legal risk. Agencies and platforms may also become involved depending on their role in preparing, approving or publishing the content. For this reason, influencer agreements in Turkey should contain clear legal clauses on disclosure obligations, prohibited claims, approval procedures, evidence, brand guidelines, takedown obligations and liability allocation.
Targeted Advertising, Cookies and Personal Data
Digital advertising frequently relies on personal data. Businesses may track browsing behavior, purchase history, interests, location, device information and demographic characteristics in order to show personalized ads. This practice is generally called targeted advertising.
Targeted advertising is regulated not only under consumer protection law but also under data protection law. The 2026 advertising amendments introduced rules requiring advertisers to provide consumers with direct and easily accessible information about which criteria are used to show targeted ads and how those criteria can be changed. The amendments also prohibited profiling-based targeted advertising directed at children.
From a personal data perspective, cookies and similar technologies must also comply with the Personal Data Protection Law. The Turkish Personal Data Protection Authority’s cookie guide explains that strictly necessary cookies may be used for functions such as logging in, filling forms or remembering privacy preferences, but such cookies should not be used for marketing purposes.
In addition, the Turkish Personal Data Protection Board announced in 2026 that privacy notices and explicit consent texts must be prepared separately; it also criticized practices such as merging consent and information notices into a single text, using unclear language or requesting approval for a privacy notice.
Therefore, a company running targeted advertising in Turkey should not only ask whether the advertisement is misleading. It should also ask whether the data used for targeting was collected lawfully, whether the consumer was properly informed, whether explicit consent is required, whether consent is freely given and whether the consumer can easily withdraw consent or change advertising preferences.
Commercial Electronic Messages: SMS, E-mail and Calls
Advertising through SMS, e-mail, automated calls and similar electronic communication channels is also subject to separate rules. In Turkey, commercial electronic messages are mainly regulated under the electronic commerce legislation and the Message Management System, known as İYS.
The İYS is a national platform where commercial electronic message permissions and complaint processes can be managed. In practice, businesses should ensure that they have valid consent before sending promotional SMS, e-mail or call-based marketing messages to consumers, unless a legal exception applies. Consumers must also be given an easy right to opt out.
A legally compliant digital marketing strategy should therefore separate three issues: advertising law compliance, personal data compliance and commercial electronic message compliance. A campaign may be lawful under one area but unlawful under another. For example, a discount e-mail may contain accurate information but may still be unlawful if sent without proper electronic communication consent.
AI-Generated Advertisements
Artificial intelligence has created new challenges for Turkish Advertising Law. Brands can now create digital characters, synthetic voices, AI-generated visuals and virtual influencers. These tools may reduce costs and increase creativity, but they also raise transparency and deception concerns.
The 2026 amendments introduced a specific rule for advertisements using AI-generated digital characters that cannot be distinguished from real humans. In such cases, the use of AI must be clearly, understandably and distinguishably disclosed. The amendments also prohibit advertisements where the AI-generated digital copy of a real person creates the impression that the person personally experienced or recommended a product or service.
This is particularly important for celebrity likeness, deepfake advertisements, AI voice cloning and virtual testimonials. A brand should not use a digital copy of a real person in a way that suggests endorsement without consent or without transparency. Even if the person consented, the advertisement must not mislead consumers regarding whether the experience or recommendation is real.
Advertising to Children
Children are considered a vulnerable consumer group. They may not have the same ability as adults to understand commercial persuasion, pricing, sponsorship, data collection or the difference between entertainment and advertising. For this reason, advertising directed at children is subject to stricter rules.
Turkish Advertising Law prohibits advertisements that exploit children’s inexperience, encourage harmful behavior, undermine parental authority or create unrealistic expectations. With the 2026 amendments, targeted advertising based on profiling and personal data directed at children was expressly prohibited.
This rule is especially relevant for gaming apps, video platforms, children’s content, educational platforms, toy brands, food companies and social media campaigns. Businesses should avoid using children’s behavioral data for personalized advertising and should carefully review content that may pressure children to purchase, persuade parents or engage with in-app purchases.
Discount Advertising and Price Claims
Discount campaigns are heavily scrutinized in Turkey because they directly affect consumer purchasing decisions. A discount advertisement may become misleading if the previous price is false, if the discount period is unclear, if stock limitations are hidden or if the advertised benefit is conditional but the condition is not clearly stated.
The 2026 amendments introduced new rules on conditional sales and discount advertising. According to the Ministry of Trade, advertisements that make a discount or other benefit conditional are also subject to discount advertising rules. The Ministry also announced that in discount advertisements, the lowest price applied within the last ten days before the discount may be shown as the pre-discount price; for perishable goods such as fruits and vegetables and for services, the previous price is taken as basis.
For businesses, this means that price history must be documented. Marketing teams should not determine discount statements without consulting sales records. E-commerce platforms should maintain reliable logs showing previous prices, campaign dates, stock availability and product variations.
Environmental Claims and Green Advertising
Environmental advertising has become a significant compliance issue in Turkey and worldwide. Consumers increasingly prefer products described as “eco-friendly,” “green,” “sustainable,” “carbon neutral,” “recyclable” or “natural.” However, vague environmental claims may mislead consumers if they are not specific and evidence-based.
The 2026 amendments introduced stricter rules on environmental claims. General expressions such as “environmentally friendly” may not be used without explanation, and environmental claims must specify which stage of the product or service life cycle they relate to. Certificates and approvals mentioned in environmental advertisements must be supported by documents issued by competent institutions, universities, accredited bodies or independent testing and evaluation organizations.
A lawful green advertising claim should therefore be concrete. Instead of saying “our product is good for nature,” a company should explain whether the claim relates to packaging, production, energy consumption, raw materials, transportation, recyclability or disposal. The claim should be backed by reliable documents and should not exaggerate the environmental benefit.
Health Claims, Food Supplements and Sensitive Products
Health-related advertisements are among the riskiest areas of Turkish Advertising Law. Consumers may make important decisions based on health claims, and misleading statements may cause serious harm. Products such as food supplements, cosmetics, medical devices, wellness services, weight-loss products, aesthetic services and alternative health services require particular attention.
The 2026 amendments also addressed food supplements. The Ministry of Trade stated that food supplements may not be advertised in a way that creates the impression that they replace foods consumed as part of normal nutrition; comparative advertisements for these products may be possible except for matters falling within health claims.
Businesses should avoid expressions implying diagnosis, treatment, prevention or cure unless permitted by applicable sector-specific legislation. Before publishing health-related advertising, it is advisable to obtain legal review and scientific substantiation.
Consumer Reviews, Testimonials and Online Reputation
Online consumer reviews have become a major part of purchasing decisions. Consumers often rely on star ratings, comments, testimonials and complaint platform entries before buying a product or service. For this reason, Turkish Advertising Law increasingly regulates the authenticity and presentation of consumer reviews.
Under the 2026 amendments, consumer reviews obtained from platforms where verification of the purchasing process is not possible may not be published. Where reviews are separated under headings such as product, service, delivery, seller or provider, all such reviews must be displayed in the same area in a clear, understandable, distinguishable and easily accessible manner.
This rule is important for e-commerce marketplaces, hotel booking platforms, clinics, restaurants, mobile apps and complaint websites. Fake reviews, selectively hiding negative reviews, manipulating ratings or presenting unverified testimonials as genuine consumer experiences may create administrative and civil liability.
Sanctions for Unlawful Advertising in Turkey
Violations of Turkish Advertising Law may result in serious sanctions. The Advertising Board may order the suspension or correction of advertisements and may impose administrative fines. In 2026, administrative fines for misleading advertisements and unfair commercial practices may range from 99,339 TL to 39,916,524 TL, depending on factors such as the medium, the unfairness of the violation, the benefit obtained, the harm caused, fault and the economic situation of the violator.
In addition to administrative sanctions, unlawful advertising may also create civil liability. Competitors may bring unfair competition claims. Consumers may seek remedies if they suffered loss or entered into a transaction due to misleading statements. In some sectors, regulatory authorities may impose additional sanctions. In serious cases, reputational damage may be more harmful than the administrative fine itself.
Practical Compliance Checklist for Businesses
Businesses operating in Turkey should establish an advertising compliance process before launching campaigns. The following checklist may reduce legal risk:
First, every factual claim in the advertisement should be supported by evidence. Second, price, discount and comparison statements should be checked against actual records. Third, influencer and sponsored content must clearly disclose its advertising nature. Fourth, targeted advertising should be reviewed from both consumer law and personal data law perspectives. Fifth, AI-generated content must be transparent and must not create false endorsement impressions. Sixth, advertisements directed at children should be reviewed with enhanced caution. Seventh, environmental and health-related claims must be specific, limited and documented. Eighth, consumer reviews should be verified and presented fairly. Ninth, commercial electronic messages should be sent only with valid permissions through lawful channels. Tenth, legal review should be obtained before high-risk campaigns.
Conclusion
Turkish Advertising Law is now a sophisticated and actively enforced legal field. It no longer concerns only traditional television or print advertisements. It covers influencer posts, AI-generated visuals, targeted online ads, e-commerce campaigns, discount pricing, green claims, food supplements, online reviews and commercial electronic messages.
For businesses, the safest approach is to treat advertising compliance as part of the campaign design process, not as a final formality. A legally compliant advertisement should be honest, provable, transparent, fair and respectful of consumer rights. In the Turkish market, companies that ignore these principles may face administrative fines, suspension decisions, access-related measures, unfair competition claims, consumer disputes and reputational loss.
As digital marketing continues to evolve, Turkish Advertising Law will remain a key area for brands, agencies, influencers and platforms. Businesses that operate in Turkey or target Turkish consumers should closely monitor the decisions of the Advertising Board, Ministry of Trade announcements, data protection rules and sector-specific advertising restrictions. Proper legal review before publication is often far less costly than defending an unlawful campaign after it has already reached consumers.
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