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The Consuming Instinct by Gad Saad. Published by Prometheus Books, 2011 in

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DOI: 10.1002/mar.20605

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BOOK REVIEW
The Consuming Instinct by Gad Saad. Published by Prometheus Books, 2011 in New York, NY.
The Consuming Instinct is subtitled “What juicy burg-
ers, Ferraris, pornography and gift giving reveal about
human nature.” The photograph on the dust jacket is
of an apparently nude woman, her modesty protected
by an outsize bright red gift tag, wearing matching lip-
stick and nail polish. This led to some strange looks
from fellow passengers as I read the book in airport
lounges, which spoiled things a little, particularly as
the content is so thoroughly grounded in the academic
literature. Indeed, there are 45 pages of helpful, high-
quality reference notes.
Unlike so many business books with dramatic titles
and sexy covers, this one is written by a knowledge-
able scholar. Unlike so many business books written
by knowledgeable scholars, this one is written in an
engaging, popular style, perhaps honed by Saad’s pop-
ular blog on the Psychology Today Web site (with close
to two million views), TEDx talk, and media appear-
ances. It is an engaging and instructive book that ad-
dresses compelling and fascinating questions. What do
all successful fast-food restaurants have in common?
Why are women more likely to become compulsive shop-
pers and men more likely to become addicted to pornog-
raphy? How does the fashion industry play on our in-
nate need to belong? Why do men’s testosterone levels
increase when they drive an exotic sports car? Why do
step-parents kill? Why did the author’s own mother-in-
law say that an ultrasound picture of his unborn baby
looked just like him? These and many more questions
are explained through Saad’s view of the innate basis of
most of our consumer behavior—evolutionary psychol-
ogy applied to consumption.
In this book, Gad Saad shows that most consump-
tion can be related to just a few overriding factors.
Juicy burgers relate to the historically valuable desire
for fatty foods—an evolutionary predisposition to cope
with calorie uncertainty that is now causing great pub-
lic health problems in the developed world; the Ferraris
are a signal in the reproduction market; the visual im-
agery of pornography has, for evolutionary reasons, a
positive effect on male sexuality (irrespective of mod-
ern moral considerations); and gift giving relates to the
way in which groups have evolved. In Darwinian terms,
these pursuits are labeled survival, reproduction, kin
selection, and reciprocity, each of which are explained
and exemplified in thorough detail. In essence, his ar-
gument is that biology and evolution are the roots of
consumption, and under the label of “homo consumer-
icus,” which is also the title of his blog, he shows that
consumption can best be understood in the light of evo-
lution.
Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 30(3): 293–294 (March 2013)
View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mar

C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/mar.20605
There is a clear refutation of nine common concerns
that are raised by people who are troubled by evolution
in general, and evolutionary psychology in particular.
This is written in a clear and refreshingly nonconfronta-
tional way, a pleasant contrast to some of the more
polemic contributions to evolution/creationism discus-
sions. Those engaged in that debate would do well to
treat this book as compulsory reading.
Of course, any book that treats serious academic top-
ics in a readily accessible way leaves itself open to crit-
icism, and there are a few areas where the author, or
more likely his editor, could be criticized. For exam-
ple, on page 23, the presence of half a dozen women in
foundational and senior positions in evolutionary psy-
chology does not prove the discipline is not sexist any
more than Barack Obama’s presidency proves that ev-
ery American is not racist. It is surprising that con-
spicuous consumption is discussed with no mention of
Veblen’s work, although it should be said that Veblen
is referred to extensively in Saad’s more academic book
on the subject (Saad, 2007, p. 155). On page 54, he fa-
vors celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s preference for a
smaller menu over academic findings that Americans
prefer greater choice; a more pragmatic explanation
would be that the business decision is one of supply,
not demand, and fewer choices on a menu result in less
food wastage, which is a major cost for restaurants.
One could wish that the discussion of pregnancy sick-
ness (p. 18) were taken a little further by mentioning
the Thalidomide tragedy, but there are limits to the
length of a book, and it is clear that one of the aims
is to encourage the reader to think. As the author is
Canadian, there are many references to North Ameri-
can popular culture, which must provide wonderful con-
text for readers familiar with the TV shows concerned;
unfortunately, many of these shows are not seen out-
side that continent. That said, it is easy to skip over
those pages if the references are unfamiliar, as they
are not central to the arguments. There are also a few
annoying problems of presentation that a copy editor
should have fixed. On several occasions (including pp.
58, 81, 82, and 106), the word “incredibly” is used to
describe a phenomenon that is actually believable, be-
cause it is true, albeit surprising and interesting. It is
certainly not incredible that men find that high heels
make women more attractive (p. 83). No editor should
have allowed terms like “somewhat unique” (p. 70) or
“scantily clad attire” (p. 71) through the production pro-
cess. But these are just minor, nit-picking complaints.
The book addresses serious and relevant human is-
sues. It offers reasoned explanations for much human
293
 hypocrisy, including the misbehavior and disgraceful
abuse of trust by people employed by many organized
religions, with the important proviso that explaining
the moral reprehensibility does not for one moment con-
done it. Saad shows with clear logic that people selling
hope, such as proponents of organized religions, base
their appeals on our Darwinian-based insecurities, and
he does not take the easy road of laughing at those
taken in by the more absurd scammers, such as ped-
dlers of blessed (and expensive) handkerchiefs. Saad
tells the story of his Jewish family, which was forced
to flee its Lebanese homeland by the terrible sectar-
ian civil war in the 1970s. Their lives were twice saved
by Muslim friends despite their religious differences.
This personal story is not only heartrending and heart-
warming, but it also provides yet another instructive
example for the evolutionary roots of nonkin friend-
ships/coalitions. On a more pleasant note, it is excit-
ing to be shown that our human evolutionary back-
ground also informs and underlies successful domestic
and commercial architecture.
The criticisms I have made about The Consuming
Instinct are minor. This is not a conventional academic
work that provides conclusive support for every asser-
tion; the author’s previous “The Evolutionary Bases of
Consumption” (Saad, 2007) fills that niche admirably.
This is a highbrow trade book meant for lay people and
294
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academics alike, and it does its job superbly. It is a great
read: stimulating, interesting, and fun. It will entertain
the reader, it will educate through the information and
arguments presented, but perhaps most importantly, it
will encourage further investigation of the fascinating
links between evolutionary psychology and marketing.
The Consuming Instinct is highly recommended for
prospective PhD students seeking inspiration, thought-
ful lay people, and perhaps also established academic
researchers seeking topics that could benefit human-
ity in a broader sense, which would give their research
more readership and impact.
REFERENCE
Saad, G. (2007). The evolutionary bases of consumption. Mah-
wah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Correspondence regarding this article should be sent to:
Colin Jevons, Associate Professor, Department of Marketing,
Monash University, 26 Sir John Monash Drive, Caulfield East,
Victoria 3145, Australia (colin.jevons@monash.edu).
Reviewed by Colin Jevons, Monash University
BOOK REVIEW
Psychology and Marketing DOI: 10.1002/mar