"You Fool, May the Buddha Punish You!": Impoliteness Strategies in the Online Sales of a Renowned Thai Seller
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Abstract
This study aimed to analyze the impoliteness strategies used in livestream selling discourse and examine the communicative functions of these strategies in contemporary Thai online culture. The study adopted Culpeper’s impoliteness theory as the analytical framework. A qualitative case study approach was employed using pragmatic and content analysis to examine linguistic expressions of impoliteness in livestream selling interactions. The case study selection began with a survey of 1,425 social media users aged 19–36 from six regions of Thailand to identify well-known online sellers who conduct product sales through Facebook Live. Multi-stage sampling, including purposive and stratified sampling, was applied to select sellers with successful livestream selling performance. The selection criterion required that each livestream attract at least 10,000 viewers. The survey indicated that “Pimrypie” was recognized by 98 percent of respondents and was therefore selected as the case study. The data consisted of nine livestream sales videos from the Facebook page “Pimrypie Sells Everything,”
The findings revealed five impoliteness strategies: (1) Direct Impoliteness, (2) Positive Impoliteness, (3) Negative Impoliteness, (4) Sarcasm or Mock Politeness, and (5) Withholding Politeness. The analysis also identified five communicative functions of these strategies in contemporary Thai online culture: (1) creating entertainment and enjoyment, (2) attracting attention and establishing a unique selling point, (3) creating familiarity and closeness with consumers, (4) reflecting changing attitudes toward impoliteness in digital society, and (5) generating positive marketing impacts in livestream commerce. Overall, the findings indicated that impoliteness in livestream selling contexts could function as a communicative resource that created entertainment, stimulated interaction, and helped construct a distinctive seller identity in contemporary digital commerce.
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