In May 1979 we bought our first colour television. Kath had just recouped her meagre pension payments, Jose was six months old, and Wimbledon was about to start. The box was a Toshiba 14 inch 'portable', but it was all we could afford, was small enough not to dominate our tiny living room, and had fantastic definition and colour. The Toshiba was our only television for over 12 years, and when we eventually had enough to justify a larger box I would happily have bought another Toshiba were it not for the availability of an ex-demonstration Sony (which we are still using) at a great price. Nevertheless, the Toshiba loyalty lives on: I bought a Toshiba portable CD player in 1997 which still works well (but only from the mains), and I am now eyeing up a Toshiba LCD television...

On the other hand, Lance Knobel's experience with Toshiba has been less endearing and serves as a salutory reminder of the irrationality of 'brand loyalty', how lingering memories can illogically modulate choice, how appearances may not be what they seem, and—more than anything—caveat emptor.