The relationship between advertising expenditures and household indebtedness in Türkiye: An evaluation from the perspective of ethical marketing and moral economy
Published 06/03/2026
Keywords
- Advertising Expenditures, Household Indebtedness, Ethical Marketing, Financial Fragility
Copyright (c) 2026 Abdullah Yıldız- Durmuş Baysal

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
Abstract
This study examines the relationship between advertising expenditures and household indebtedness in Türkiye and evaluates this relationship from the perspectives of ethical marketing and moral economy. The study is based on a literature review and quantitative secondary data analysis. In this context, data for the 2000–2025 period on resident household final consumption expenditures, advertising expenditures, and the number of individuals with unpaid personal loans or credit card debt were analysed comparatively. The findings show that while the share of household final consumption expenditures in GDP has followed a long-term declining trend, advertising expenditures have increased significantly, especially in recent years. At the same time, the rise in card payment tendencies and in the number of individuals with unpaid debt indicates a stronger link between consumption behaviour and financial fragility. The study concludes that advertising should be considered not only as a demand-enhancing tool but also as a factor affecting consumption and borrowing behaviour. Therefore, marketing practices should be evaluated together with ethical responsibility, consumer welfare, and financial stability.
References
- Adams, P., Hunt, S., Palmer, C., & Zaliauskas, R. (2021). Testing the effectiveness of consumer financial disclosure: Experimental evidence from savings accounts. Journal of Financial Economics, 141(1), 122–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2020.05.009
- Altıntaş, D., Ayla, D., & Karış, Ç. (2018). Reklam Harcamaları ve Ekonomik Büyüme Arasındaki İlişki: Türkiye Örneği. Atatürk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 22(Özel Sayı 3), 2647-2663. https://izlik.org/JA89LU26PT
- Arango-Kure, M., & Garz, M. (2025). Manipulation: An integrative framework of unethical influence in marketing. Journal of Business Research, 197, 115476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115476
- Ayhan, B., Aydin, M., & Ulcay, A. (2024). Politics of household indebtedness in Turkey. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 24(2), 427–445. https://doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2024.2354537
- Bagwell, K. (2007). The economic analysis of advertising. In M. Armstrong & R. Porter (Eds.), Handbook of Industrial Organization (Vol. 3, pp. 1701–1844). Elsevier.
- Baker, M. J., & George, L. M. (2010). The role of television in household debt: Evidence from the 1950s. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 10(1), Article 41. https://doi.org/10.2202/1935-1682.2393
- Baysal, D., & Yıldız, A. (2025). Pazarlama Anlayışının Ürün Odaklılıktan Anlam Merkezliliğe Dönüşümü: Modeller, Yaklaşımlar ve Etik Boyut. Güncel Pazarlama Yaklaşımları ve Araştırmaları Dergisi, 6(2), 230-241. https://doi.org/10.54439/gupayad.1837435
- Bertrand, M., Karlan, D., Mullainathan, S., Shafir, E., & Zinman, J. (2010). What’s advertising content worth? Evidence from a consumer credit marketing field experiment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125(1), 263–306. https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.2010.125.1.263
- Bertrand, M., & Morse, A. (2011). Information disclosure, cognitive biases, and payday borrowing. The Journal of Finance, 66(6), 1865–1893. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2011.01698.x
- Bhutta, N., Goldin, J., & Homonoff, T. (2016). Consumer borrowing after payday loan bans. Journal of Law and Economics, 59(1), 225–259. https://doi.org/10.1086/686033
- Birdal, M., Acun, S., & Onuk, P. (2023). The rise of household debt in global economy and Türkiye. İstanbul İktisat Dergisi, 73(2), 697–716. https://doi.org/10.26650/ISTJECON2023-1242692
- Bordo, M. D., & Meissner, C. M. (2012). Does inequality lead to a financial crisis? Journal of International Money and Finance, 31(8), 2147–2161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jimonfin.2012.05.006
- Campbell, J. Y., Jackson, H. E., Madrian, B. C., & Tufano, P. (2011). Consumer financial protection. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(1), 91–114. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.25.1.91
- CBRT, (2018, June 27). Household indebtedness level from a comparative perspective. https://tcmbblog.org/wps/wcm/connect/blog/en/main%2Bmenu/analyses/household_indebtedness_level
- CBRT ,(2025). Financial stability report. https://www.tcmb.gov.tr
- Ceritoğlu, E., Cilasun, S. M., Küçükbayrak, M., & Sevinç, Ö. (2023). Household portfolios in Türkiye: Results from the household finance and consumption survey. Central Bank Review, 23(4), 100132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbrev.2023.100132
- Coletta, M., De Bonis, R., & Piermattei, S. (2014). The determinants of household debt: A cross-country analysis (SSRN Working Paper). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2571267
- Di Maggio, M., Ma, A. T., & Williams, E. (2020). In the red: Overdrafts, payday lending and the underbanked (NBER Working Paper No. 28242). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w28242/w28242.pdf
- Duivenvoorde, B. (2023). Consumer protection in the age of personalised marketing: Is EU law future-proof? European Papers, 8(2), 631–646. https://doi.org/10.15166/2499-8249/679
- Focke, F., Ruenzi, S., & Ungeheuer, M. (2020). Advertising, attention, and financial markets. The Review of Financial Studies, 33(10), 4676–4720. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhz142
- Gabaix, X., & Laibson, D. (2006). Shrouded attributes, consumer myopia, and information suppression in competitive markets. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121(2), 505–540. https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.2006.121.2.505
- Gomes, F., Haliassos, M., & Ramadorai, T. (2021). Household finance. Journal of Economic Literature, 59(3), 919–1000. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20201461
- Gu, X., & Huang, B. (2014). Does inequality lead to a financial crisis? Revisited. Review of Development Economics, 18(3), 502–516. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12099
- Jameel, A., Khan, S., Alshurideh, M., & Salloum, S. A. (2024). Exploring the impact of social media sites and television advertisements on compulsive shopping behavior: The mediating role of materialism. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 17, 1–15.
- Jordà, Ò., Schularick, M. H. P., & Taylor, A. M. (2013). Sovereigns versus banks: Credit, crises, and consequences (NBER Working Paper No. 19506). National Bureau of Economic Research.
- Jordà, Ò., Schularick, M., & Taylor, A. M. (2017). Macrofinancial history and the new business cycle facts. NBER Macroeconomics Annual, 31(1), 213–263. https://doi.org/10.1086/690241
- Kumhof, M., Rancière, R., & Winant, P. (2015). Inequality, leverage, and crises. American Economic Review, 105(3), 1217–1245. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20110683
- Lombardi, M. J., Mohanty, M. S., & Shim, I. (2017). The real effects of household debt in the short and long run (BIS Working Papers No. 607). Bank for International Settlements.
- Maesen, S., & Ang, D. (2025). Buy now, pay later: Impact of installment payments on customer purchases. Journal of Marketing, 89(3), 13–35. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429241282414
- Melzer, B. T., & Morgan, D. P. (2015). Competition in a consumer loan market: Payday loans and overdraft credit. Journal of Financial Intermediation, 24(1), 25–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfi.2014.07.001
- Mian, A., Rao, K., & Sufi, A. (2013). Household balance sheets, consumption, and the economic slump. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 128(4), 1687–1726. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjt020
- Mian, A., Sufi, A., & Verner, E. (2017). Household debt and business cycles worldwide. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 132(4), 1755–1817. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjx017
- Narayanan, A., Mathur, A., Chetty, M., & Kshirsagar, M. (2020). Dark patterns: Past, present, and future. Queue, 18(2), 67–92. https://doi.org/10.1145/3400899.3400901
- Nyrhinen, J., Sirola, A., Koskelainen, T., Munnukka, J., & Wilska, T.-A. (2024). Online antecedents for young consumers’ impulse buying behavior. Computers in Human Behavior, 153, 108129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.108129
- OECD. (2022). Dark commercial patterns (OECD Digital Economy Papers No. 336). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- OECD. (2023). Consumer vulnerability in the digital age. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- Palmer, D., & Hedberg, T. (2013). The ethics of marketing to vulnerable populations. Journal of Business Ethics, 116(2), 403–413. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1476-2
- Pellegrino, A., Abé, M., & Shannon, R. (2022). The dark side of social media: Content effects on the relationship between materialism and consumption behaviors. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 870614. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.870614
- Reklamcılar Derneği. (2024). Medya ve reklam yatırımları 2023’te yüzde 120 büyüdü, 140 milyar TL’yi aştı https://rd.org.tr/haber/medya-ve-reklam-yatirimlari-2023te-yuzde-120-buyudu-140-milyar-tlyi-asti. Erişim Tarihi: 31.03.2026
- Schularick, M., & Taylor, A. M. (2012). Credit booms gone bust: Monetary policy, leverage cycles, and financial crises, 1870–2008. American Economic Review, 102(2), 1029–1061. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.102.2.1029
- Singh, P., Sharma, B. K., Arora, L., & Bhatt, V. (2023). Measuring social media impact on impulse buying behavior. Cogent Business & Management, 10(3), 2262371. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2262371
- Summers, P. M. (2017). Credit booms gone bust: Replication of Schularick and Taylor (AER 2012). Journal of Applied Econometrics, 32(5), 1033–1038. https://doi.org/10.1002/jae.2554
- Verner, E., & Gyöngyösi, G. (2020). Household debt revaluation and the real economy: Evidence from a foreign currency debt crisis. American Economic Review, 110(9), 2667–2702. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20181585
- Wang, J., & Burke, K. (2022). The effects of disclosure and enforcement on payday lending in Texas. Journal of Financial Economics, 145(2, Part B), 489–507. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.09.024
- Zinman, J. (2010). Restricting consumer credit access: Household survey evidence on effects around the Oregon rate cap. Journal of Banking & Finance, 34(3), 546–556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2009.08.024
- Zinman, J. (2015). Household debt: Facts, puzzles, theories, and policies. Annual Review of Economics, 7(1), 251–276. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-080614-115640

