So, first off, I am from the Jersey Shore and have lived here my whole life. The reality TV series called “The Jersey Shore” centers around New Yorkers that come down to vacation in popular Jersey Beach towns. Nobody from Central New Jersey acts anything remotely close or as douchey as these said New Yorkers. We usually refer to these tourists as Staten Island Roided up guidos. They start fights, are aggressive and are typically with high-energy/superficial women. Most people I know are normal and I guarantee you would not guess they were from NJ. That said, the Staten Island/overly aggressive, common douche bag with tons of hair gel, spray tan and a roided up physique are New Yorkers, yet people always assume they’re from Jersey.
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No, it’s had a bad rep since LONG before Jersey Shore. Though the show did reinforce a lot of the stereotypes.
Mafia stereotypes are also part of it.
I spent parts of my childhood in Jersey in the 80s and 90s. It had a bad reputation then. So no.
Mostly its just that a lot of comedians live in New York so NJ is just the uncool suburban place outside the city.
Several cast members are/were from New Jersey and I’m going to assume you’re younger, but as a New Yorker, NJ has always been kind of punching bag.
A lot of influential entertainment & media has always come out of New York City, and New Jersey has kind of always been NY’s punching bag, so I think just caught on.
The TV show Jersey Shore was playing up an existing perception. In large parts of the country the Tri-State area all kind of blends together so the distinction between Staten Island and Central New Jersey isn’t really legible.
Lol I think it’s just because you guys are easy to make fun of. Culturally speaking you’re hardly different from us in the south or New Yorkers in the north, with your fair share of rural areas.
So much of your state’s identity is based upon its proximity to NYC or to Philly, I think that’s where the little brother treatment that NJ gets mainly comes from. I don’t think most people really have any issues with Jersey people or anything (though I do feel like you guys drive worse lmao)
Jersey Shore didn’t help, but jokes about New Jersey have been around for a long time. A lot of it is just the normal banter neighboring states have with eachother, but because of the prominence of NYC in the media, that banter found its way to a much larger audience. It also doesn’t help that the part of NJ that borders NYC was/kinda still is a bit of an industrial wasteland. People visit NYC, fly into Newark, and think “wow, those jokes were right!”.
On another note, Staten Island actually is what everyone thinks New Jersey is.
Now apply this question to all of the US
I think it’s the casual racism that earns the reputation
Jersey’s bad rep existed way before Jersey Shore came out. Literally the worst beaches on the entire east coast imo.
Also, interesting smells.
I think it’s not because of Jersey Shore because that show came out in 2009 and the song “Bomb New Jersey” by Voltaire came out in 2007.
People have been driving through New Jersey on the turnpike for over 60 years, and that’s usually the only part of New Jersey that most people see. It informs people’s opinions.
Also, let people pump their own gas.
If anything Jersey has a better reputation than it did in say, the late 90s
No, it had that rep before the show. When I lived in vt around 2000, people used to say, “don’t Jersey Vermont” meaning, “don’t turn Vermont into a crappy place” (I can’t remember if it was specifically referring to littering or big box stores or what, but it was definitely something undesirable.)
The first thing that always comes to my mind when I think of New Jersey is that industrial area that you first hit when you leave nyc. It’s so ugly. It’s like the ugliest place I’ve ever driven through.
(Now, I understand there are some really pretty places in nj too and some of my closest friends are from Jersey. I’ve had a lot of great times there. I’m not down on nj, just explaining its reputation.)
No the show was playing on the reputation Jersey already had in the rest of the country and the areas around it in particular. Don’t feel bad about it, every state has it’s negative stereotypes. Especially with it’s closest neighbors.
Jersey smells like rotten eggs.
It existed long before the show, but the show didn’t help.
Mafia stereotypes/cartoonish Italian-American culture, sleazy Atlantic City, and that Jersey accent all contributed decades before Jersey Shore
Probably a little north jersey, sopranos type stereotyping involved. I’ve lived all over that region, Wildwood was very cool.
> Nobody from Central New Jersey
You’re from NJ? You should know that Central New Jersey doesn’t exist…
From driving up 95 to NYC. That stretch from Philly on is post apocalypse.
Jersey Shore didn’t spawn any stereotypes or stigmas, it just reinforced existing ones.
These stereotypes existed for decades before Jersey Shore
No. It’s because NYC hates New Jersey and makes a lot of movies and TV where they can tell jokes about how much New Jersey sucks. The rest of the country is primarily aware on New Jersey through the eyes of New York.
The show exists because of the reputation already being there.
It’s a little like one of the “worse” Southern states. The other nearby states trashed them.
NJ is just the but of the joke because it wasn’t NYC.
> Nobody from Central New Jersey acts anything remotely close or as douchey as these said New Yorkers.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume you’re in your 20s or later 40s.
Because I’m also from Jersey and… yeah the shows portrayal was definitely accurate for the MTV roided era of the late 90s to early 2010s. It was a badge of honor for a lot of us in college at the time.
Deena is from New Egypt (Pine Barrens) and Sammi is from Hazlet (North Jersey/Central).
We definitely had a lot of kids wearing Ed Hardy, spiked hair, roided up. And Seaside was the epicenter of MTV summer culture with the Summer Beach House and Jersey Shore. And you went down to Karma, Bar A, or Harrahs and beat the beat up. I still beat that beat up if I’m drunk enough 😂
No, Jersey had that reputation before the show, and amongst people who are not ignorant of Jersey
It’s Always Sunny didn’t do you any favors.
No, it had that rep before anybody ever heard of Jersey Shore. I don’t really know what the worst of New Jersey is like but in my life I’ve encountered people from New Jersey who identify with NYC, identify with Philly, and identify as being from “not that part of New Jersey”, and very few who were actually proud of their state.
Sounds like “joisey” propaganda
New Jersey is the worst state. You could hold a gun to my head and I would uphold that statement for my last breath.
I thought it was because of the pike and the smell.
NJ was number one in toxic waste dumps for quite some time. That didn’t help.
which exit?
it has had a rep long before jersey shore.
Honestly? It’s because the experience most people have with NJ is the worst part of the state – it’s driving, in terrible traffic, through industrial wastelands next to overbuilt highways – you dont experience the garden state you experience the fertilizer
I’m okay with the bad rep bc I live here and it’s lovely but already too populated
Jersey was called the trash can of America since like the 80s
Some of the negatives associated with NJ (along with Staten Island, NY) come from anti-Italian bias.
People don’t perceive New Jersey as sucking because a show was made about it sucking.
New Jersey sucks, therefore someone decided to make a show about it sucking.
Nope. I graduated college in Maryland in 1993 and we had a lot of students from NJ (mostly south Jersey) and they lived up to the stereotype of what we thought people from NJ were like.