Citation: Jambrino-Maldonado, C.; Iglesias-Sánchez, P.P.; de las Heras-Pedrosa, C.; Olivares-Delgado, F.; Benlloch-Osuna, M.T. Femvertising and COVID-19—What Did Brand Owners Broadcast during the Lockdown? Systems 2023, 11, 186. https://doi.org/10.3390/ systems11040186 Academic Editor: Maurice Yolles Received: 2 March 2023 Revised: 29 March 2023 Accepted: 4 April 2023 Published: 6 April 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). systems Article Femvertising and COVID-19—What Did Brand Owners Broadcast during the Lockdown? Carmen Jambrino-Maldonado 1 , Patricia P. Iglesias-Sánchez 1 , Carlos de las Heras-Pedrosa 2, * , Fernando Olivares-Delgado 3 and María T. Benlloch-Osuna 4 1 Department of Business and Administration, Faculty of Economics and Business Studies, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Malaga, Spain 2 Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising, Faculty of Communications Sciences, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Malaga, Spain 3 Department of Communication and Social Psychology, Faculty of Economics and Business Studies, Universidad de Alicante, 03080 Alicante, Spain 4 Department of Communication Sciences, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Universitat Jaume I, 12071 Castellon de la Plana, Spain * Correspondence: cheras@uma.es Abstract: The aim of this study was to analyze, from a gender perspective, advertising broadcasts during a time of crisis. A holistic perspective of the stereotypes, roles, professions, and gender relations represented is offered by utilizing a content analysis of all the advertisements and their corresponding images during broadcast. Methods: a content analysis of 20 variables was conducted; of these, 7 variables were obtained from under the gender perspective of 1.350 images, corresponding to 71 audiovisual spots on YouTube that were broadcasted during the lockdown. Results: this analysis showed the special sensitivity of advertisers when balancing male and female presences, and in projecting an equitable and co-responsible vision between both genders, with special emphasis on gender professions, teleworking, and childcare. Corporate advertising predominates over commercial advertising, which may explain why the discourse and images blur inequalities and imbalances with respect to official statistics. Conclusions: advertisers seem to have noticed the strategic role of introducing gender perspectives into advertising, thus assuming a more social function that better connects them with today’s society while also supporting the advances and challenges of equal opportunities. Keywords: gender approach; advertising; femvertising; women’s representation; YouTube; gender roles; digital media 1. Introduction The world witnessed an unprecedented crisis in terms of intensity, as well as univer- sally, experiencing the problems and speed of the virus. The periods of lockdown have posed a challenge for people, and even brand owners have dealt with this situation by transforming their communication. Furthermore, it has become evident that advertising has adopted a social function [1]. This new reality invites reflection in terms of gender due to the fact that the home is the main backdrop of where lives develop. The strict measures adopted by the Spanish government forced citizens to stay at home from 14 March until 4 May 2020, and it was only on the 21 June 2020 that the restrictions started to gradually relax. Thus far, advertising during the COVID-19 period has not been a major topic in the literature [2], and even less is known with regard to focusing on women and advertising. However, the representation of women and their treatment in advertising has generally been widely developed in the literature, especially from the 1950s onwards [3–5], which coincided with a period of a more effective entry of women into the labor market. Interest in the topic is still maintained in the scientific community today [6–9]. Systems 2023, 11, 186. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems11040186 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/systems