Readership of "Own Car" and "Other Car" Ads

  Mean Percent of Ads Noticed by   Mean Percent of Ads Read by
Ads Dealing With: New Car Owners Old Car Owners   New Car Owners Old Car Owners
Own Car 70 66   65 41
Considered Cars 66 __   40 __
Other Cars 46 __   34 __
Considered plus other cars 48 41   35 30

On average, the new car owner read 65 percent of the ads he noticed which concerned his recently purchased car.New cars owners attempt to reduce their dissonance by reading ads about the car they just bought.

Source: A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, 1962