I always found the appeal of rolling a non-human character is that they look distinct to humans. Each to their own I guess. Personally I like to play dwarves and elves because I get to live out the fantasy of playing a race who, while sharing similarities, are noticeably different from human. I am all for the beautiful spectrum of human diversity being represented in humans and half-elves, half-orcs, etc. I just don't see why we need to reflect human diversity in Elves, when they are supposed to be a different species but that's just me and I can appreciate people think otherwise.
In this thread I have read posts suggesting ethereal = white (skin) and broadly conflating Elven features with North European Caucasian features, which to me is nonsense. You could equally argue that Elves share a resemblance to, for example, some East African and East Asian people but I haven't seen that mentioned here. I am of North European heritage and have a nose that is flat and round ie. untypical of what people might generally associate with Caucasian! I look nothing like an elf. If I did, I'd piss off to the forest and live out the fantasy for real.
