ced I was the only Black male in the entire class. I felt like I was a sore thumb in the class because of my skin color and facial differences. Then I realized we were talking about cultural differences as the topic in my Consumer Behavior class. During class, we focused on cultural differences and how race affected purchase behavior and marketing strategies. I felt a spot light shine down on my head every time the teacher said, “black” and African American. I could not help but feel awkward and “obvious” to the students sitting around me. Throughout the entire day, I seemed small and unimportant. It was a very strange feeling to be the only Black person walking on campus among a group of thirty to fifty people. Now and then I would catch a glimpse of someone of my race, but the frequency was all too small. Experiencing this perspective through my own eyes and body was a lesson that could never be taught. You can never feel what someone else is feeling or know what they are thinking, but I believe I came one step closer during the course of that day.Part two: After the experience I had pretending that I was an African American male, I saw many “ordinary” things within our society that would impact me differently. Three main things that affected me were television commercials, print advertising, and greeting cards.One thing that I noticed right away while I viewed life through my voice was TV advertising. Practically 97% of the consumers portrayed on TV are traditional White Americans. I imagined how I would feel if the tables were reversed and 97% of the people on TV were African Americans. It was very hard to imagine. Advertising would affect me differently because I would see people unlike me buying and using products. I’m not happy to see so little of my race being portrayed on TV and in television shows. It would be hard for me to relate to the people in these advertisem...
