Advertising Law

Advertising Law

The advertising industry is a topic that is on the agenda recently. Advertising business can be carried out in all fields. The Advertising law is a law that covers the general problems or situations in this field. Ads are not made as per order. There are particular regulations in the advertising industry as each industry has its own regulation. These industries are responsible to each other and to the consumer chain. They need to know their rights. There must be legal regulations on the matters such as unfair competition and different pricing. The relevant heading is the heading “advertising law.”

General Principles of the Advertising Law

In our country, there are three organizations that regulate and supervise this industry: Advertising Board, Advertising Self-Regulatory Board, Radio and Television Supreme Council. These institutions carry out the necessary examinations. Before presenting the necessary information in the field of advertising law, it is necessary to know what the concept of advertising covers. In this context, the elements that the advertising concept carries or covers are as follows:

• Promotion is the first element covered by the advertising concept. To call a procedure, product or service to be called as advertising, such procedure must promote such procedure, product or service. The thing that renders the promotion important is that the promotion procedure only targets the potential consumer, not the whole public.
• Commercial purpose is another element that we can consider in the context of our advertising law attorney service and is among the elements covered by advertising. The main reason for promoting a product or service in an advertisement is commercial purpose. With the promotion of the product or service, it is aimed to increase the sales of the product or service and to increase the profit margin in this context. In this context, it is possible to say that all of the elements that make up the advertisement are interconnected. For example, it is not possible to have commercial purposes without advertising, or to advertise without commercial purposes. Accordingly, both situations will lose their meaning.
• Another element that can be considered under the heading “elements of advertising” in the context of the advertising law is the presence of the intention to advertise. To state that a procedure is an advertisement, such information or promotion must have been conducted with the intention to advertise. In other words, the people may promote their products or services without any goal to advertise. For this reason, another element that has taken its place among indispensable ones in the context of the advertising law is the presence of the intention to advertise.

Comparative Advertising Law

The comparative advertising law is an important issue because of comparison of advertising types. It is a type of law, where unfair competition is endeavored to be eliminated. In this type of law, it is aimed to prevent unfair trade. The comparative advertising law is a method applied to prevent problems arisen from situations that it is not an advertisement that deceives the consumer, the advertisement is correct and correct, the product is original, the product is in the same condition everywhere, the advertisement or similar products are not degraded, and another company does not enrich due to reputation, etc. The Turkish commercial law imposed commercial regulations on the comparative advertising law. These must be considered. If they are not taken into account, the criminal proceedings are applied.

Digital Advertising Law

Our digital advertising attorney service is a case that covers the situations related to social media. Advertising in the digital environments is also subject to certain regulations. Unfair competition, forgetting the existence of the consumer, and the regulation of advertisements made in the digital environment for the sole purpose of gaining profit are examined under this heading. Advertising is not a spontaneous process. Conditions such as the price of the goods, profit, etc. are among the situations that should be considered seriously. Today, advertising is mostly conducted in digital media. Problems and confusions take place in these environments. If regulations are not made for these advertisements, the consumer concept disappears. This is why it is a very important issue. Protection of the unfair competition and consumer rights is the duty of this legal field.

Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices

In respect to the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices, the first thing that can be said is that such regulation is based on the provisions of the Law on Consumer Protection No.6502. It is possible to say that this regulation came into force after it is published in the official gazette on January 10, 2015. The provisions related to the advertisements in such regulation and the details regarding the advertising law are as follows:

• Advertisements must be distinctive. An advertisement must be clearly understandable. In this context, the medium and format of publication of the advertisement are not important matter, but its understandable nature is essential. It is not possible to publish advertisements that are published in a very short time and refer to the subconscious of people in a way that they cannot distinguish. Again, in the scope of the advertising law, if the word, music or image in an advertisement is taken or adapted from another place, it should be noticed immediately that such image or voice covers the advertisement.
• The advertisements must comply with the relevant regulations and laws. The advertisements to be published must be prepared with social responsibility and economic awareness, and in this context, they must contain regulations that will not cause unfair competition conditions. In the context of our advertising law attorney services, it is possible to say that the designed and published advertisements must not mislead the consumer. Necessary penal sanctions will be imposed on advertisements that abuse consumer confidence. Again, while advertising, it is imperative that any sentence, image or sound used in the advertising content does not denigrate or insult another person, institution or organization. In this context, it is not possible to display the name, logo or emblem of a person, institution or organization in advertisements.

Although the compared advertisements detailed above are not prohibited as a rule, they are subject to a limitation. Such limitation is given above. An advertisement may never denigrate or insult another company, person or organization, even if this is a comparative advertisement. While making a comparative advertising, attention must be paid to the aforementioned factors in accordance with the advertising law.

Advertising Law and RTUK

RTUK, which stands for Radio and Television Supreme Council, is an institution that has authority to supervise radios and televisions. The main reason, why private broadcasters are subject to an audit, is the protection of social values, which are important in the context of the advertising law.

RTUK’s powers are not limited to supervising the radio or television broadcasts. In this context, the powers of RTUK include the supervision of persons, institutions or organizations that fail to comply with the provisions specified in the law and make broadcasts that violate the advertising law and keeping them subject to sanctions. 

Advertising Board

In the context of our advertising law attorney service, the possible definition for the advertising board is as follows:

“The advertising board was established under the Ministry of Industry and Trade in order to protect the consumer and competition.“

As can be seen, the main reason for the establishment of the advertising board is to protect the consumer and competition. The activities carried out by the Board are based on the Consumer Protection Law No.4077. Its main reason is determination of the general trade codes of conduct, and in this context, the advertising business is carried out in accordance with the laws.

The Advertising Board allows the advertisements of the manufacturers to be made in accordance with the relevant regulations and laws, and in this context, it prevents the consumer from facing any goodwill abuse. Again, it is possible to eliminate the incorrect or incomplete information situation faced by the consumer with the Advertising Board.

As it is known and accepted by everyone, the advertising industry is a versatile industry. In this context, it is possible to introduce any product or service. The fact that it is versatile and does not contain any restrictions on promotion in this context has brought along the existence of malicious sellers and manufacturers as well as bona fide sellers/manufacturers. The advertising of malicious sellers in the context of advertising law is limited and prevented in any way. However, it is known that some sellers abuse goodwill by finding a way. Therefore, upon the presence of any misleading information and bad intentions in the advertisement, the consumers may seek their rights and require elimination of the possible aggrievements in this context.

Another legal area, in which the Advertising Law has a very close correlation, is the Intellectual Property Law. An advertisement will benefit from the protection of the  Intellectual Property Law if it is original. We attach great importance to this issue in our Advertising Law attorney and consultancy service.

Our advertising law attorney and legal advice service is a service provided to remedy the aggrievements of people, who have suffered from misleading information and malicious intent in advertisements. If you have made a mistake and experienced any aggrievement due to advertising and you want remedy such mistake and aggrievement, you can request the attorney and legal as services by contacting us.