PR Services
Sponsored content and advertorials: what the rules say and how to label correctly
12 March 2026 · Venüs Medya · 5 min read
The obligation to identify paid content as advertising, labelling practice on news sites and television, and the advertiser's share of the responsibility.
Sponsored content and advertorials are the most sensitive ground between PR and advertising. The Turkish Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices requires paid content to be clearly recognisable as advertising by the consumer; content presented as news while concealing that it is advertising is subject to sanctions.
On news sites the practice is a visible "advertisement" or "sponsored content" label at the top of the piece and a design distinct from editorial content. On television, product placement and programme sponsorship are subject to the disclosure rules in broadcasting regulation, with announcements before and after the programme.
The responsibility does not rest with the publisher alone. The advertiser and the agency are jointly responsible for labelling the content and for the accuracy of its claims. Additional rules apply in regulated categories such as health, food supplements and financial products.
Our way of working is to label sponsored content with the publication's own standard, verify claims with documentation before publication and check the label after it goes live. These three steps protect the brand and the outlet alike.
Author: Venüs Medya
PR Services