At the meeting of the Advertisement Board numbered 341 held on 9 January 2024, an important principle decision was taken regarding discount sale advertisements with the amendment made to the “Guideline on Advertisements Containing Price Information and Discount Sale Advertisements and Commercial Practices” in order to prevent consumer grievances through misleading advertisements and practices that lead to unfair competition in the retail trade sector.
In this decision, it was noted that applications such as coupons and discount cards, where consumers earn money as they shop, create an atmosphere of continuous discounted sales, and it was evaluated that these practices are used to create an unrealistic discount perception in consumers in a way to eliminate the advertising legislation and consumer protection regulations, and that this situation is distorting the price perception of consumers and misleading consumers.
With the additions made to Article 14 titled “Discount Sales Advertisements”, it is stated that it is aimed to prevent misleading consumers by regulating the expressions and visuals used in discounts offered with loyalty cards.
Accordingly, in order to prevent deceptive practices, it has been determined that in advertisements for goods or services offered for sale through loyalty programmes, the impression of a direct or indirect discount cannot be created by using phrases such as “discount”, “savings”, “special discount/opportunity for XY card/members”, “pre-discount price” or visuals such as crossed out prices or downward trend graphs.
