Advertising Alcohol on Social Media

In Türkiye, the advertising, promotion, and similar activities related to alcoholic beverages are prohibited across all communication channels, including television, radio, cinema, print media, and digital platforms. Therefore, it is not permitted to promote or advertise alcoholic beverage brands in any way. This restriction also includes advertisements made through social media influencers. The Advertisement Board has scrutinised hidden advertisements of alcoholic beverage brands conducted through social media influencers. As a result, it has imposed administrative sanctions such as cessation of such promotional and advertising activities and issued administrative monetary fines to both advertisers and the social media influencers involved.

The Advertisement Board reviewed the posts of a social media influencer in 2024, which featured advertisements for various alcoholic beverage products on their social media page. Upon examination, the Board found that in these posts, images of a variety of alcoholic beverage products were displayed openly showing their brand names and distinctive elements, with the products facing the camera in a way that made them clearly visible. Further investigation of the social media account revealed that no other branded products from different sectors available to consumers were featured, and the only commercial products shown in the posts were the mentioned alcoholic beverages. This indicated that the posts utilised imagery and implications designed to generate consumer demand, effectively constituting advertisements for alcoholic beverages despite such promotions being prohibited by law. Additionally, the content was shared in a format that presented personal preferences and experiences, without explicitly stating that it was an advertisement or including any clarifying labels such as "sponsored" or "collaboration”. As a result, the Board concluded that these posts constituted hidden advertising and decided to impose a penalty of cessation of the advertisements.

The Advertisement Board also examined various posts shared by another influencer on their social media account, including photos and pinned posts in a fixed folder on their homepage. The investigation revealed that multiple images featuring a specific alcoholic beverage brand—along with its distinctive branding elements—were used, with bottles and glasses positioned to face the camera in a clearly visible manner. Additionally, the brand’s social media account was tagged, along with hashtags such as collaboration, and the influencer shared content expressing enjoyment of an event hosted by the brand, explicitly mentioning the brand name. Given this, the Advertisement Board determined that the influencer’s social media account served as a "platform" facilitating an event that encouraged the consumption and sale of alcoholic beverages belonging to the advertising company. This effectively constituted an advertisement for alcoholic beverages using demand-generating imagery and implications, despite such marketing being legally prohibited. Furthermore, some pinned stories in the folder contained hidden advertising for the brand, reinforcing the violation. As a result, the Advertisement Board concluded that these activities were in clear breach of regulations and imposed an administrative fine on the social media influencer, along with a penalty of cease-and-desist regarding the advertisements.