Covert Advertising

Covert advertising is promoting goods or services in a way that is not clearly recognisable as advertising, for example by embedding the promotion in a news item, programme, column, video or social media post. Article 61 of Consumer Protection Law No. 6502 prohibits covert advertising. The core principle is that consumers must be able to recognise that the content in front of them is advertising.

Which Situations Are Covert Advertising?

• Content that looks like news or opinion but was prepared in return for a commercial relationship,
• Showing a brand for promotional purposes in programmes, series or videos without identifying it as advertising,
• Social media content creators not labelling posts made in return for payment, products, gifts or discounts as advertising,
• Company employees or agencies posing as independent consumers and reviewing products; see Consumer Reviews.

The Advertising Label

The way to avoid covert advertising is to state clearly, understandably and noticeably that the content is advertising. Under the Ministry of Trade’s Guidelines on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices by Social Media Influencers, the label must appear at the beginning of the post, in the same language as the content and where followers can easily see it; tags such as “#reklam” (#ad) or “#işbirliği” (#collaboration) and platforms’ “includes paid promotion” markers are used for this purpose. The label must not be lost in a long list of hashtags, and stating it only in the profile description is not enough. See Influencer Marketing.

Sanctions

For covert advertising, the Advertising Board may order suspension and impose administrative fines. In social media posts, the Board may hold both the advertiser and the content creator liable.