Gad Saad | |
---|---|
Born | Beirut, Lebanon | 13 October 1964
Nationality | Lebanese, Canadian |
Education | McGill University (BSc, MBA) Cornell University (MSc, PhD) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Marketing, consumer behaviour |
Institutions | Concordia University |
Thesis | The adaptive use of stopping policies in sequential consumer choice (1994) |
Doctoral advisor | Edward Russo |
Website | gadsaad |
Gad Saad (/ˈɡæd ˈsæd/; Arabic: جاد سعد; born 13 October 1964) is a Canadian marketing professor at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University.[1] He is known for applying evolutionary psychology to marketing and consumer behaviour.[2][3] He wrote a blog for Psychology Today and hosts a YouTube channel titled "The Saad Truth".
Saad was born in 1964 in Beirut, Lebanon, to a Jewish family. He is of Lebanese Jewish and Syrian Jewish ancestry.[4] His family fled in October 1975 to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to escape the Lebanese Civil War.[5]
He obtained a B.Sc. (mathematics and computer science) and M.B.A. from McGill University, and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Cornell University.[6] Saad's doctoral adviser was J. Edward Russo, the mathematical and cognitive psychologist and behavioral decision theorist.
Saad is an atheist who describes himself as culturally Jewish.[7]
Saad has been a professor of marketing at Concordia University since 1994. As of 2020, he holds the Concordia University Research Chair in Evolutionary Behavioural Sciences and Darwinian Consumption.[8] During this time he has also held visiting professorships at Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and the University of California, Irvine.[9] He was an associate editor for the journal Evolutionary Psychology from 2012 to 2015.[10] He is an advisory fellow for the Centre for Inquiry Canada.
Saad hosts a YouTube show titled The Saad Truth. As of February 2021, his channel has received more than 22 million views.[11]
Saad writes a blog for Psychology Today titled Homo Consumericus.[12]
One line of research that Saad has been exploring is how hormones affect consumers and the decisions they make. Examples of this research include how showy products affect testosterone levels,[13][14] how testosterone levels affect various forms of risk-taking,[15][16][17] and how hormones in the menstrual cycle affect buying decisions.[18][19] Another line of research has involved gift giving, including how men and women differ in why they give.[20][21][22][23]
Saad has been profiled in the Toronto Star[11] and his life story was documented by the Télévision française de l'Ontario.[24] His views have also been mentioned in The Economist,[25] Forbes,[26] Chatelaine,[27] Time,[28] The Globe and Mail,[2] and The New York Times.[29]
Saad had been a contributing author for The Huffington Post[30] and The Wall Street Journal.[31]
Saad appeared on Reason TV in November 2011.[32] In September 2015, Saad was interviewed by TJ Kirk on the Drunken Peasants Podcast.[33]
As of 2022, he had been featured on seven episodes of Joe Rogan's podcast The Joe Rogan Experience.[11] In February 2022, Spotify removed 70 episodes of the podcast, one of which featured Saad, reportedly at Rogan's own request.[34][35]
Saad has also appeared on Sam Harris's Making Sense podcast (then titled Waking Up),[11] The Adam Carolla Show,[36] Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria,[37] and The Rubin Report.
Saad has repeatedly raised concerns of growing totalitarianism and antisemitism in Canada.[38][39][40] During the Canada convoy protest, Saad tweeted to Indian PM Narendra Modi, "Dear @narendramodi, we’re looking to leave Canada to escape the dictatorship. Any room for us in India?"[38] and to United States, "I need to flee Canada to start a new life in the United States. Will you take us in?"[39]