Advertising is subject to control because it targets the consumer and can affect the consumer's consumption habits. In this article, we have covered the legislation on the supervision of advertisements, the initiation process of the investigation, the decision-making process of the advertising board, and statistics on the decisions of the Advertisement Board.
Relevant Legislation
Under Article 61 of Law No. 6502 on the Protection of Consumers ("Law on Consumer Rights"), it is essential that commercial advertisements comply with the principles determined by the Board of Advertisement, general morality, public order, and personal rights, and be honest and correct. Therefore, the legislation underlying the audit is the Consumer Protection Law No. 6502, since the target audience of commercial advertisements is consumers.
The rules to be followed in terms of commercial advertisements are explained in the Commercial Advertisement and Unfair Commercial Practices Regulation ("Regulation"). In this context, there are provisions regarding restricted or prohibited practices such as the principles to be followed in preparing advertisements, advertisements containing price information, unfair abuse of reputation, defamation, covert advertisements, and advertisements for children.
Within the scope of the Board of Advertisement Regulation ("BoA Regulation"), the duties and powers of the Advertisement Board ("Board") are regulated, as can be understood from the name of the regulation. One of the powers of the Board is to control commercial advertisements and decide on the investigation.
How Advertisements are Supervised
The Board of Advertisement starts an investigation after the advertisements are complained about by the relevant persons, thus by consumers, institutions and organizations, and competitor companies.
The Board of Advertisement may initiate an investigation ex officio if it deems necessary, together with the authority given to the Board.
With the development of technology, the application form to the Board of Advertisement has also become electronic. In electronic form, the complainant's identification number, name, and address; If the complainant is a legal person, that is, for institutions, organizations, and competitor companies, the title and address must be included. Otherwise, it is stated that the application will not be evaluated within the scope of Article 8 of the Regulation.
It is of great importance to include information about the advertisement, which is the subject of the complaint, for the initiation of the investigation. Indicative information such as the place where the advertisement was published, the date, and the subject of the complaint should be included. On the other hand, information and documents related to the complaint regarding unfair commercial practices should be included.
The originals of the complained advertisement, written or printed, are attached to the petition. Images of those who are not qualified to be added are provided by the applicant.
Finally, in the advertisements made on the internet, the advertisement samples containing the complained web address extension (in the form of URL and similar) and the date information should be attached to the petition.
As it can be understood from the explanations, the complaint regarding the advertisement will be made to the Board of Advertisement together with the explanations and identification information. On the other hand, it should be noted that the assumption that every complaint will result in a penalty would be an erroneous approach within the scope of statistics. In order not to destroy the creative approach of the product or service due to the nature of the advertisement, the determined rules aimed at protecting the competition with the consumer will find an area of application.
Board of Advertisement Process
When the complaint reaches the Board of Advertisement or ex officio investigation process begins. Within the scope of the investigation, the advertisement subject to the complaint will be examined and the allegations against the advertisement will be taken into consideration. If deemed necessary, a defense may be requested from the advertiser.
The Board of Advertisement may penalize advertisements that it deems unlawful and mislead the consumer, that is made in prohibited subjects and ways, or that are anti-competitive.
Penalties can be made in three ways, as stated in the Regulation and the 12th paragraph of Article 77 of the Law on Consumer Rights.
After the investigation is completed, administrative fines may be imposed over the limits set for the advertisement. At the end of the day, since the benefit in question is the protection of the consumer, the Board of Advertisement will impose an administrative fine. Therefore, the judicial remedy can be applied against administrative fines by the provisions of the Procedure of Administrative Judgment Law No. 2577.
On the other hand, the Board may also decide on the suspension of the advertisement in question. As it can be understood from the decision of suspension, the broadcasting of the advertisement is terminated. Finally, the Board of Advertisement will be able to decide on the form of correction with the same method.
As stated in the 12th paragraph of Article 77 of the Law on Consumer Rights, the Advertisement Board may impose these penalties together or separately, depending on the gravity of the violation. On the other hand, if the Advertisement Board considers that there is no indication of infringement, it will decide that there is no violation.
Advertisement Board Decision Statistics
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