Unfair competition through advertisement in Turkish commercial law

With the development of advertising technology, the increase in the number of channels that enable the advertisement to reach the target audience and the emergence of modern advertising methods, advertisements have become sources of information that have the potential to directly affect consumers purchasing preferences rather than being a simple marketing tool. Although this seems to be a positive situation for the subjects of commercial life and the advertising sector, from time to time, advertisements may cause the disruption of honest and fair competition environment. The fact that advertisements are an indispensable marketing tool for the subjects of commercial life and the increasing variety of products and services strengthens the competition of advertisers and brings unfair competition through advertisements, which is the basis of this study. All acts or actions that violate the rule of honesty, damage the economic competition environment, and prevent the right of competitors to compete are considered as unfair competition acts. In our study, unfair competition regulation according to the Turkish Commercial Code, the concept of advertising in general, the legal nature of advertising, its types and most importantly, the areas where advertisements may be subject to unfair competition are examined. In addition, the issue of legal liability in case of unfair competition through advertisements is discussed.