Gad Saad


Gad Saad is a Canadian marketing professor at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University. He has argued for applying evolutionary psychology to marketing and consumer behaviour. He wrote a blog for Psychology Today and hosts a podcast titled "The Saad Truth".

Early life and education

Saad was born in 1964 in Beirut, Lebanon, to a family of both Lebanese Jewish and Syrian Jewish descent. His family fled in October 1975 to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to escape the Lebanese Civil War. His elder brother, David, is a judoka who competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics. His nephew Ariel Helwani is a mixed martial arts journalist.
Saad obtained a B.Sc. degree in mathematics and computer science and an M.B.A. in marketing from McGill University, and an M.S. in management and a Ph.D. in marketing from Cornell University.
Saad is an atheist who describes himself as culturally Jewish.

Career

Saad has been a professor of marketing at Concordia University since 1994.
From 2008 until 2018, he held the Concordia University Research Chair in Evolutionary Behavioural Sciences and Darwinian Consumption. He has also held visiting professorships at Cornell University, Dartmouth College, University of California, Irvine and Northwood University. He was an associate editor for the journal Evolutionary Psychology from 2012 to 2015. He is an advisory fellow for the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Saad wrote a blog for Psychology Today titled Homo Consumericus from 2008 until 2020, and contributed to The Wall Street Journal in 2011.
Saad has publicly argued against "political correctness" and "social justice", which he believes limits academia. In 2017, he provided testimony to the Canadian Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs arguing against Bill C-16 which added gender expression and gender identity as protected grounds to the Canadian Human Rights Act. More recently he has argued against "wokeism", especially in regards to transgender people.
Saad hosts a YouTube show titled The Saad Truth. His channel has received more than 40 million views.
In 2016, Saad appeared on Sam Harris's Making Sense podcast in an episode titled "The Frontiers of Political Correctness". In an interview with Israel Hayom, Gad Saad said Islam "cannot coexist peacefully" in Western countries and predicted that, as a result of Muslim immigration, "Europe will descend into massive violence".
During fall 2025, Saad became a visiting scholar at the University of Mississippi's Declaration of Independence Center for the Study of American Freedom.

Research

Saad has researched how hormones affect and are affected by consumer behavior, such as how conspicuous consumption affects testosterone levels, how testosterone levels affect risk-taking, and how hormones in the menstrual cycle affect buying decisions. He has also researched how men and women differ in gift giving behaviors.
Gad Saad said he analyzed Islamic canonical texts and said that the "hatred of Jews is higher in them than in Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'".

Books

  • Saad, G.. The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.. Book review
  • Saad, G. . Evolutionary Psychology in the Business Sciences. Springer: Heidelberg, Germany.. Book review
  • Saad, G.. The Consuming Instinct: What Juicy Burgers, Ferraris, Pornography, and Gift Giving Reveal About Human Nature. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.. Book review
  • Saad, G.. The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing..
  • Saad, G.. The Saad Truth About Happiness: 8 Secrets for Leading the Good Life. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing..