The Advertising Board and influencer disclosure
The Advertising Board, part of the Ministry of Trade, enforces the Consumer Protection Law No. 6502 and the regulation on commercial advertising and unfair commercial practices. It can fine advertisers and suspend ads, and it publishes its decisions. Its guideline on influencer advertising, adopted in May 2021, requires commercial content to carry one of a set list of Turkish disclosure labels, such as #Reklam or #İşbirliği, placed where people see it at once. A synthetic spokesperson or virtual influencer run by the brand is still the brand's advertising and needs the same disclosure. Alcohol advertising has been banned since 2013, which rules out generated lifestyle scenes with drinks for those brands. Self-regulation runs through the Reklam Özdenetim Kurulu, and RTÜK licenses broadcasters.
KVKK, faces, voices and transfers
The Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698, known as KVKK, treats biometric data as special category data, so capturing a presenter's face or voice to build a digital twin needs a lawful basis under the stricter rules, usually explicit consent, plus a separate information notice. Amendments in force since 1 June 2024 added legal grounds for processing special category data and made adequacy decisions or safeguards such as standard contracts the main routes for transfers abroad, leaving explicit consent for occasional transfers; standard contracts must be notified to the Authority within five business days. Cloud tools that process recordings outside Türkiye fall within those transfer rules. The Turkish Civil Code also protects personality rights, which covers unauthorised use of a person's image. Get consent in writing, keep the notice, and know where every recording is stored.
Dotted i, dotless ı and suffixes on brand names
Turkish has two letters i: dotted i with capital İ, and dotless ı with capital I. Software that capitalises or lowercases using English rules produces wrong words, so 'istanbul' in capitals must be İSTANBUL, and fonts must carry ğ, ş, ı and İ. Turkish is agglutinative and follows vowel harmony, so case endings attach to brand and product names after an apostrophe, and the ending's vowel follows how the name is pronounced, which a simple template cannot predict. Decide between the formal siz and the familiar sen for each brand and channel. Many consumer brands use sen on social media and siz in banking, insurance and customer service, and switching mid-campaign reads as careless.
Audiences between Europe and the Gulf
Türkiye's audiences span secular, urban consumers who follow European trends and more conservative, religious families, with different expectations of dress, humour and gender roles. Ramadan, Ramazan Bayramı and Kurban Bayramı move with the lunar calendar, and 29 October, Republic Day, carries national weight. Retail culture has its own habits: prices are often communicated with instalment options, and Trendyol, Hepsiburada and n11 set the standard for product imagery. Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and X are the main social platforms, but access to platforms has been restricted at times, so keep a plan for moving spend quickly. Campaigns aimed at Turkish-speaking audiences in Germany or elsewhere in the EU also fall under the EU AI Act.
Updated 25 September 2026 · General information, not legal advice. Rules change, so check the current text with your legal team before relying on it.