Campus Directory: Michael Basil

University of Lethbridge

Michael Basil
Faculty
Dhillon School of Business - Marketing
Office: M4057
Email:

Degrees

A.B. (Psychology); A.M., Ph.D. (Communication Research)

Expertise

Advertising, Celebrity effects, Consumer message processing, Social marketing, Marketing of healthy foods, Marketing management and stategy

Research Areas

Farmer's markets

Previous Research Areas

Advertising, Celebrity effects, Social marketing

About Me

I am retired. However, you can still reach me by email at: michael.basil@uleth.ca.

Biography

Mike grew up in California in the 1970s. While he was earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology he worked as a social activist focusing on consumer protection, environmental issues and nuclear disarmament. After receiving his masters degree, Mike worked as a substitute teacher in southern California and as an ESL (English as Second Language) teacher in Tokyo Japan.

Mike earned his PhD at Stanford University, studying communication - specifically advertising, how people process persuasive messages, and research methods. He started his academic career at the University of Hawaii (1991-1994), studying the effect of celebrities in health promotion. Mike went to the University of Denver (1994-2000), and began collaborating with Porter Novelli and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the application of communication and social marketing techniques and data to enhance public health. He joined the University of Lethbridge in 2000. Mike was a visiting scholar at the University of Wollongong in Australia in 2008-2009 and Grenoble Ecole de Management in France in 2013.

Mike's later research examined the power of experiences in enriching our lives -- examining fine dining, travel, and recreational activities such as long-distance hiking. He served as a regional editor for the Journal of Social Marketing and was on 10 editorial boards in the fields of Communication, Marketing, and Social Marketing. He retired in 2023.

Selected Publications

A complete listing of publications can be seen on my full CV. Some area highlights:

Celebrity effects

  • Basil, M. D. (1996). Identification as a mediator of celebrity effects. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 40, 478-495.

  • Brown, W. J., Basil, M. D., and Bocarnea, M. (2003). Social influence of an international celebrity: Responses to the death of Princess Diana. Journal of Communication, 53, 587-605.


    • Consumer message processing

  • Basil, M. D. (1994). Multiple resource theory I: Application to television viewing. Communication Research, 21, 177-207.

  • Lang, A. and Basil, M. D. (1998). Attention, resource allocation, and communication research: What do secondary reaction task reaction times measure, anyway? In M. E. Roloff (Ed.), Communication Yearbook, Volume 21 (pp. 443-473). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.


    • Leisure experiences

  • Basil, M. D. & Basil, D. Z. (2009). Reflections on ultra-fine dining. In A. Lindgreen, J. Vanhamme & M. Beverland (Eds.), Memorable Customer Experiences (pp. 135-147). Aldershot, UK: Gower.

  • Basil, M. D. (2023). Understanding people's motivations for a long-distance hiking trip. Leisure Studies, 42(2), 282-295.


    • Marketing of healthy and tasty food

  • Glanz, K., Basil, M., Maibach, E. Goldberg, J. and Snyder, D. (1998). Why Americans eat what they do: Taste, nutrition, cost, convenience, and weight control concerns as influences on food consumption. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 98, 1118-1126.

  • Basil, M. D. (2012). A history of farmers' markets in Canada. Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 5, 387-407.


    • Social marketing

  • Basil, M. D. (2013). Effects of social marketing: Potential and limitations. In E. Scharrer (Ed.), Media Effects/Media Psychology, Vol. 5, Media Effects/Media Psychology (pp. 552-566). The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies. Boston, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

  • D. Z. Basil, G. Diaz-Meneses & M. Basil (2019). Social Marketing Cases from Around the World. Springer.

    Visual research methods

  • Basil, M. (2007). Japanese love hotels: A photo essay. Consumption, Markets, and Culture, 10(2), 203-221.

  • Basil, M. D. (2011). Use of photography and video in observational research. Qualitative Marketing Research, 14, 246-257.

    • Research Interests

    Mike's research initially focused on marketing communication -- advertising, celebrity effects, and consumer message processing. Later he focused on marketing strategy -- how products or services can best meet consumer needs; to this end he examined how food consumption is shaped by factors such as taste, convenience, and nutrition. His research also investigated the role of leisure experiences in people's lives, including fine dining, travel, and recreational activities. Although his background was in quantitative methods, Mike was also made use of qualitative, ethnographic, historical, narrative, and visual methods.

    His full academic vita is available below.

    Current Research and Creative Activity

    TitleLocationGrant InformationPrincipal InvestigatorCo Researchers
    Farmer’s markets as a distribution and retail channel. (Comparing Lethbridge Farmer’s markets with those in Italy) Lethbridge, Italy

    Curriculum Vitae

    Mike's CV

    Internet Links

    http://people.uleth.ca/~michael.basil/


    Edit this Content