"And I can breathe really quite relaxed"... CRINGE! (Corrected, sort of)

I like the Breathe-Rite guy.  He seems like a genuinely nice fellow.  A "regular Joe" if you will.  (Of course the name "Joe" has taken a major hit since that self-ordained Sam "Waffleburger" guy (or was it Wurzleborken?) was anointed as "Joe the Plumber" by the Republican Guard (comprised entirely of people who haven't spent more than two minutes with a real plumber in years, and if they did they washed their hands after the fact.)

So, granted, he seems like a nice guy.  And more power to him for creating a simple device to help people like me breathe at night.  Sure, I don't wear Breathe-Rites every night (who can afford that!) but when I really need to get a good night of sleep without waking the neighbors, they're pretty effective.

The Breathe-Rite device isn't my beef... what I'm having trouble with is the phrase he utters in the commercial, wherein he says (after placing a Breathe-Rite over the bridge of his nose): "and I can breathe, really, quite relaxed."

Now, I'm not a grammar policeman.  I personally try to use proper grammar, out of respect for my readers/listeners more than anything else.  And even though most of my family is from/of a blue collar background, I still cringe when I hear that phrase.  I don't need to go looking for the error in grammar, as it just rings out clearly and announces itself.

The only thing that I can compare it to, cringe-wise, is the now infamous utterance from the spokesperson/President of The Hair Club for Men.  You remember his catchphrase, I'm sure:  "Not ONLY am I the president, but I'm also a member."  Cringe!

The intervening "but" is like fingernails on a chalkboard.  My ears crave to hear the vastly improved "Not ONLY am I the president; I'm also a member."  No cringe.  Not even a little.

And so with Mr. Breathe-Rite.  It would flow so much better if he simply said something like:  "and my breathing is really quite relaxed."  I still don't like that phrase, because it still sounds a bit like talking through one's hat (as they used to say.)    It would be so much more "regular Joe" to just say "and I can breathe without difficulty" or "and my nostrils feel so unconstricted!"

It's like trying to sound refined and not quite pulling it off.  I could say this with much more certainty if I was refined, but since I'm not, I can't.  What I wonder about most of all is, assuming their are copy editors and script writers involved in making such a commercial (and, seriously, there MUST be, because they're probably spending hundreds of thousands of dollars plus the money to buy the commercial time!)... what I'm wondering is "WHAT were they thinking?"  Surely they knew this was cringe-worthy grammar.

And they did.  So what then, I would ask, was their purpose in going with the cringe-inducing phrase?  I think I know, but it bothers me still.  They are assuming that "regular Joes" make similar errors of grammar when trying to "upgrade" their grammar for a commercial.  In other words, they would never utter such a phrase under regular circumstances, but for the purposes of trying to do a commercial, they would aspire to a "higher" level of usage, but not quite get it right.

And there it is, the gist of my annoyance.  Not with Mr. Breathe-Rite... not with Mr. Hair Club for Men... (though he strikes me as much seedier from the get-go!)  My annoyance is with the ad men who applied their calculus to the message and said "Yeah, this will strike a chord with the common man."  In other words, the man (and woman) with whom we (the ad guys) have nothing in common, and, by the way, for whom we (the ad guys) have no real respect.

That sticks in my craw like you wouldn't believe.  Just as anointing a bigoted, ignorant arrogant blue-collar-ish extra as "Joe-the-Plumber."  The people who create these images for branding purposes have no respect for those they market to... they simply want to sell a product.

But I have faith.  I believe in the regular "Joe" and "Jane"... I believe in the common people who don't measure their value by how many people they duped, scammed or pandered to on any given day.  Some people do things for a genuine purpose of helping other people, even if they happen to make a buck while doing so.  I think Mr. Breathe-Rite falls into this category.  Mr. Hair Club for Men?  I'm not so sure.

What I suspect is that some out there believe in their message, but they don't really appreciate those to whom their message is being delivered.  These guys are pathetic, but at least have some principles behind their actions.

Then their are those who don't even believe in their message.  They just want to foist a view point for personal or ideological gain, whether or not they have anything invested in that view point.  They would sell their soul to the devil if it got them a larger share of some demographic.  A bigger share of some market segment.  Whatever it takes... nothing really matters but the numbers.

These types won't be going away anytime soon.  But hopefully we'll gradually recognize them for what they are.  In doing so, we filter the message they want us to absorb.  It becomes an active critical processing, rather than a passive uncritical reception of the message.

I'm going to continue using Breathe-Rite strips... when I want to.  But I do so knowing that the pandering inherent in their message didn't work.  I used them long before their class-based pandering was present on the airwaves.  And I'll sleep better knowing that fact.  (My neighbors are on their own.)