GENDERED POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN PAKISTANI BEAUTY-BRAND INSTAGRAM CAPTIONS: A BROWN & LEVINSONIAN CORPUS STUDY

Abstract

The study explores gender-based politeness strategies used in the Instagram captions 
of Pakistani beauty brands, using Brown and Levinson‘s (1987) Politeness Theory as 
a theoretical framework. Social media has heightened the presence of beauty staples, 
in particular Instagram, and Pakistani brands are no exception when it comes to using 
this platform to reach out to consumers. This study investigates how these brands 
articulate gender discourses by employing language in the captions. Based on a valid 
set of 200 Instagram captions, the study describes and classifies how politeness 
strategies are employed to advertise beauty products. Combining quantitative and 
qualitative methods, the analysis brings the distinctions of politeness strategies 
targeting the male and female audience aspects into relief, with an emphasis on 
positive and negative politeness strategies as well as courtesy elements. Findings 
show that positive politeness strategies are frequently addressed to a female audience 
in comparison with the male-targeted captions which tend to use negative politeness 
strategies. There is a gendered stereotype projected here about what it means to be 
feminine and masculine in Pakistani culture, which speaks to brand identity and 
consumer interaction.