Poor New Jersey! The Garbage State … er — Garden State has been the butt of countless jokes. Now one of them is to be the central theme in a billboard advertising a new deodorant product that reads:

Dear New Jersey, When people call you ‘the Armpit of America,’ take it as a compliment. Sincerely, Dove.

For an article on the new campaign, the New York Times picked the brain of Jen Drexler, senior vice president of the Insight Strategy Group and co-author of “What She’s Not Telling You,” as well as a New Jersey native. Her reaction was mixed. On the one hand she praised the ad for featuring women “with average or curvy figures rather than stick-thin models.”

On the other, she lamented:

This is just giving women something else to be anxious about. Women do not think about how beautiful their underarms look and they couldn’t pick their underarms out of a lineup, so Dove is saying, ‘We’ve invented the problem, and now we’re solving it for you,’ which is a classic approach for beauty brands.

As for the billboard? Drexle said that the state, which has endured Hurricane Sandy and the bridge scandal, is in no mood to be a punch line:

It just feels unnecessary and like it’s kicking New Jersey when it’s down. Give us a break.