Law No. 4250 on Alcohol and Alcoholic Beverages, as well as the Regulation on the Procedures and Principles of the Sale and Marketing of Tobacco Products and Alcoholic Beverages, prohibits every type of advertisement and presentation of alcoholic beverages, prohibits campaigns, promotions, and any activity that encourages the consumption and sale of alcoholic beverages in any kind of media. This ban includes broadcasts on TV and radio, ads in the cinema, product replacement, printed media, etc., as well as social media and any digital platform.
The advertising ban also includes that trademarks, logos, and signs of alcohol brands cannot be put on business signs of points of sale, sales units, refrigerators, and coolers, any other portable and stable materials. Exceptions are signs and logos of alcohol brands that could solely be used on service materials in restaurants and cafes that have licenses to serve alcoholic beverages. Service materials are only limited to glass, corkscrews, ice buckets, bottle openers, etc. Even tablecloths, napkins, stools, chairs, menus, salt cellars, and plates are not allowed to bear any trademark, or sign of alcohol brands, as those are considered not to be directly used for the purpose of serving alcoholic beverages.
Alcoholic beverage manufacturers, importers and marketers cannot support, cannot sponsor any activity by using the brand, logo, or sign of their products. If an alcoholic beverage firm sponsors an event or program, it can only use the name of its company with no brand or logo implication. In light of this, no event or program sponsoring seems legally possible for alcoholic beverage firms, as it is prohibited to do this by using brands, logos or signs. The producers, exporters, and marketers of alcoholic beverages, regardless of the purpose, cannot give alcoholic beverages as promotions, gifts, or for free.
Brand stretching is prohibited. The names, brands and other distinctive elements of alcoholic beverages cannot be used on non-alcoholic products nor any other products. Tasting activities by consumers is not allowed. Only tasting activities intended for persons possessing a sales certificate in workplaces of importers and wholesalers and facilities of manufacturers, as well as to their assigned employees, are allowed.
Although the above restrictions have been in force since 2013, supervision of the restrictions over the internet was less strict. The recent restrictions within the scope of a total advertising ban for alcohol was applied to Twitter and Instagram pages of brand owners. The official Twitter and Instagram pages of alcoholic brands are not accessible for residents in Turkey.