In the 1970s we had a Philips K9 colour TV. Colour TV broadcasts began in Australia in 1975, though there were some trial transmissions earlier. It was a great TV, we got it in 1976. Dad wanted to watch the Olympics in colour.
Philips was big in Australia then - they manufactured a lot of products here, the factory was in Clayton, a suburb of Melbourne. They also owned Malvern Star bicycles, which were a very well liked brand. I had a friend at school whose Dad worked as an accountant at Philips. I had a part-time job working for a local pharmacy after school, delivering prescriptions on my bicycle. I saved up to buy a new, better bike - a blue Malvern Star 5 speed "racer." My friend's Dad got it for me at staff discount price, much cheaper than in stores. Sad thing is today you could still buy a new bike for that price, though it would be cheap junk. The Malvern Star was fantastic, I loved it.
Philips TVs at that time were advertised for having Natural Colour - many other brand TVs had very 'vibrant" colour which looked impressive in the store, but was too bright, with unrealistic colours. The new Japanese brands in particular tended to be like that. Philips had a great series of TV commercials to demonstrate their Natural Colour, one featured animals being fooled by the image on the screen, reacting to it as if it were real. Parrots trying to eat seeds off the screen; dogs trying to chase a ball on the screen; a mouse running from a cat on the TV and so on. My friend's Dad told us that the ad was shown to Philips staff before it was released, and they had a "bloopers" version which included all the things that went wrong during filming the advertisement. A monkey attacked one of the crew, a parrot paid no attention to the image it was supposed to react to. The ads were very successful, Philips TVs were very well regarded in Australia. I remember Choice magazine did a huge test on TVs, much more thorough than they are today, it included opening the TV and seeing what they were like for servicing. The Philips was the best, its circuit boards hinged open each side, giving very easy access to both sides of the board.
I couldn't find the ad I remember (with the animals) on youtube, but here are some from the series of Philips Natural Colour TV ads:
(recording is B&W)
