A White Background

I was out with some people on Monday night when one of my friends told us a story about a visit he had to Newfoundland. He said that some people there had never seen a brown person before. It made me think. When I think of my friends, I don’t really think about race. Here I was sitting at a table that with a group that pretty much looked like the a United Colors of Benetton ad, having forgotten an important fact. There’s a lot of white people.

Why are all Lego men yellow?

We spend so much time trying to figure out how to understand minorities, we have forgotten a key demographic in North America – white people. And apparently, they have a lot of spending power. So since we’ve been ignoring them for so long, I thought it would be prudent to do a little research. Find out how they think and what makes them tick. Luckily, I came across an excellent website that lays it out for the rest of us: Stuff White People Like. Now, they take an extremely scientific approach to figuring out what white people like.

I thought I’d try to take a crack at it. So, just from personal observation and some quick research, I have compiled a quick list of things that white people like:

- The 80s
- Wayne Brady
- Whole Foods
- Asian Girls*
- Ultimate Frisbee

*Does not apply to white women.

To bring it back to more of a serious note, I think it’s interesting how often we characterize people based on demographic groups. Because it’s easier to communicate to the characteristics of that group than to tailor a message to invididuals. The truth of the matter is that good communication and good products rely on insights. We are undoubtably influenced by our cultural and enthnic surroundings, but in the end we all experience the same human emotions and connections.

- Christian

Update on March 17, 2008: 

Someone made me a half-white, half-brown lego man! Awesome.