I dont want to go all P/R, but for God's sake...PLEASE tell me that most people know that Jesus didn't look ANYTHING like that. (i.e. I'm assuming most people know that he was not a long-haired white guy....that image wasn't even *invented* until a thousand years after his death. Jesus was a middle eastern with "hair like lambs wool")
I went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston the other day, and they had some old painting of an American painter. It portrayed the Three Magi, but whether through ignorance of what the Middle East flaura looks like, or by active choice, the scenery the Magi were in was a Rhode Island waterfront.
I guess painters tried to make the subject matter familiar to the audience. That said, or rather because of it, I'm surprised Mexicans simply took over the European "white boy Jesus".
EDIT: I think some cultures, especially the one colonized by Westerners, specifically stick to WBJ since it emphasizes the otherworldliness.