Integrity Ideas are specific actions a leader can consider during the Re-Align step of Integriosity^®–actions that will begin to Re-Align the organization with Biblical beliefs, principles, and priorities.  You can find more Integrity Ideas at Integrous | Integrity Ideas (integriosity.com)

INTEGRITY IDEA: Encourage “Pinocchio Marketing”

Confused? Don’t worry–we are not advocating deceptive marketing that causes a faithful leader’s nose to grow.  “Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” is about faithful leaders cultivating a marketing culture with a heart for the qualities that allowed Pinocchio to become a real boy–bravery, truthfulness and unselfishness–and a nose capable of detecting potentially deceptive or manipulative marketing before it is implemented.

Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization.  Some are critical steps in the RENEW/RE-ALIGN/RE-IMAGINE/RESTORE process; others are ideas to consider through prayerful discernment as faithful leaders steward the organization toward its WHY.

“Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” falls into the “should” category.  Leading a business with faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing should prioritize cultivating a culture in which transparency and honesty are values that permeate interactions with and among stakeholders and deception and manipulation in those interactions are not tolerated.

The Pinocchio Refresher

You probably remember the story of Pinocchio, and the story of Pinocchio you remember is most likely the Disney version.  The original was an Italian novel written in 1883 by Carlo Collodi, but Collodi’s little wooden puppet was very different from Walt Disney’s.  Collodi’s Pinocchio was a brat–deliberately naughty and selfish, lazy and manipulative, and without remorse.  (He actually killed the Talking Cricket we know as the lovable Jiminy Cricket.)

We are sticking with the beloved Disney version.  In it, Pinocchio was not a bad little boy, just naive and easily influenced by what we could characterize as the way of the kingdom of the world. Thankfully, Jiminy Cricket was appointed by the Blue Fairy to be Pinocchio’s conscience:

I dub you Pinocchio’s conscience, lord high keeper of the knowledge of right and wrong, counselor in moments of high temptation, and guide along the straight and narrow path. Arise, Sir Jiminy Cricket.

When the naive Pinocchio asks Jiminy Cricket what a “conscience” is, he replies (rather prophetically for our purposes): “What’s a conscience! A conscience is that still small voice that people won’t listen to. That’s just the trouble with the world today.”

Early on in the Disney version, the Blue Fairy tells Pinocchio what it will take to become a real boy: “Prove yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish. And someday, you’ll be a real boy.”

“Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” recognizes that marketing in the way of the kingdom of the world is often deceptive and selfish–manipulating and preying upon customers to maximize sales and ultimately profit, but marketing in the way of the Kingdom of God should be bravely truthful and unselfish–informing and serving customers to maximize Biblical flourishing.

Marketing in the Way of the World

This is not an attack on the advertising industry. Quality advertising can be thought-provoking, clever, funny, heartwarming, and entertaining.  But there is also a dark side to advertising in the way of the world–in the way of business as usual. Because business as usual marketing operates in an environment of Profit as Purpose, its purpose is to get people to buy a product in order to increase sales, in order to increase profit.

With business as usual built on assumptions of Scarcity and Self-Interest, it is no surprise that those assumptions influence business as usual marketing. Deception and manipulation based upon those assumptions–sometime subtle and sometimes not so subtle–are tools to convert customers.  This can surface as:

• Exaggerated or even false claims about benefits and quality.

• Manipulated or misleading implications in visuals or testimonials.

• Airbrushed or altered outcomes.

• Qualifications, caveats, warnings and onerous terms hidden in fine print or not disclosed.

• Use of selective or commissioned data and studies.

• Visuals and narratives that prey upon people’s fears, insecurities, ignorance or desperation.

It is generally not outright fraud (though that does happen).  It is more often messaging designed to shape perception through something other than truth and reality.

When have you ever been served a fast-food item that looked anything like the images in the advertisements?  (Recent articles in Food Republic and Reader’s Digest detail some of the techniques used by “food stylists”.) Have you ever “subscribed” to something without realizing it?  When was the last time you were told that an offer was only available for a few minutes (as a timer counts down on the screen) or that supplies were running out?  How many ads feature idealized men and women with idealized lives suggesting “this could be you and this life could be yours–if you just buy our product“?

While television commercials and magazine advertisements are created by large agencies with reputations to uphold, social media has opened up a new world of digital marketing, including marketing through sponsored “reviews” and paid influencers. It is reported that an average of 30% of online reviews are considered fake or inauthentic, with the number of fake reviews growing 12.1% faster than the number of all online reviews.

But “way of the world” deception is used by even the manufacturers we need to trust the most.  The United States is one of only two countries that permits direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertisements. A recent article in JAMA alleges that “For nearly 3 decades, pharmaceutical companies have exploited weak enforcement, flooding US consumers with promotional content that is often misleading.” The author laments:

Misleading impressions come straight from the ads themselves: glossy scenes of patients laughing, singing, and dancing dominate the screen, while fine print races past with warnings about seizures, addiction, or even death. That is not fair balance—it is a distraction by design.

Marketing in the way of the world is also driven by a third characteristic of business as usual–a “Can We” culture. The question is “Can we get away with it?”  Is it illegal? Will it be perceived as unethical? What is the risk of enforcement? The JAMA article observes:

A 1997 regulatory change by the FDA made these advertisements more widespread by relaxing restrictions, unleashing a marketing free-for-all. The consequences of this regulatory failure have been significant. Within a decade of this regulatory change, pharmaceutical advertising spending increased by nearly 800%, many creating a misleading impression . . .. The FDA’s enforcement trajectory demonstrates a regulatory collapse over the past 25 years. In the late 1990s, the agency sent hundreds of enforcement letters annually to companies violating advertising regulations. By 2023, this number had plummeted to just 1 letter. In 2024, the FDA did not send a single enforcement letter.

Marketing with a Heart for Bravery, Truthfulness and Unselfishness

“Becoming a real boy” should be the marketing goal of a faithful leader seeking to lead with faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing.  The way of the Blue Fairy aligns with the way of the Kingdom of God–bravery, truthfulness and unselfishness.  It is certainly the call of Scripture–in addition to Imago Dei, the Golden Rule and the commandment to love your neighbor, consider these verses:

The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death. (Proverbs 21:6)

You shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. (Leviticus 19:11)

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out. (Proverbs 10:9)

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches. (Proverbs 22:1)

A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. (Proverbs 11:1)

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor. (Ephesians 4:25)

There are many more, but hopefully you get the idea.

“Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” recognizes that one of the most straightforward commands in Scripture (1 Corinthians 10:31) is to do everything to the glory of God and that advertising is an opportunity for worship. God is glorified through marketing that is brave, truthful and unselfish.

In post #289 (Integrity Idea 080: Provide Praiseworthy Packaging), we discussed the importance of first impressions in the context of intentional “packaging”, which we defined broadly to include methods of communication such as letterheads, business cards, presentation covers and bindings, and websites. Marketing is often the first layer of “packaging” encountered by a customer.  It is worth repeating the wise words of Will Rogers–“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

Bravery. “Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” can get complicated in a broken world. One challenge is the pressure of the world to conform to business as usual.  It is where the advertising agencies, digital marketers and influencers will push you and your employees.  Recall the wisdom of Max De Pree that we have cited many times:

Unless somebody articulates something different, you are going to adopt a secular standard without even thinking about it.

Pressure to conform marketing to business as usual practices is also likely to come from investors, fund managers and stock analysts, because their focus is Profit as Purpose. Creating honest marketing in a marketplace built on exaggeration and sleight-of-hand requires courage, and courage requires trust in God.  It takes bravery and trust in God to market truthfully and unselfishly. It is countercultural to:

• Resist pressure to keep up with manipulative competitors.

• Tell the whole truth, including the drawbacks.

• Choose clarity over emotional trickery.

• Risk losing short-term sales to build long-term trust.

• Say “no” when a campaign “almost tells the truth”.

Truthfulness.  Leading with faithful integrity demands truthfulness, and truthfulness is essential to build trust with customers.  We devoted an entire post (#218–Integrity Idea 047: be Trustworthy) to the importance of being trustworthy in the pursuit of Biblical flourishing through the alignment of an organization with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.

Building trust through truthfulness requires cultivating an organizational culture of integrity that prioritizes dependability, honesty and transparency. The quality of truthfulness also highlights the importance to business a better way of doing the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons, and emphasizing a “Should We” rather than a “Can We” organizational culture.

For a faithful leader seeking to lead with faithful integrity, being truthful with customers reflects Imago Dei, recognizes that people deserve to be treated with dignity, prioritizes relationships, and embodies the Golden Rule and the command to love your neighbor as God loves you.

We believe efficient commerce, customer loyalty, healthy relationships, and a cohesive community require the trust that can come through truthfulness in marketing–trust that can be destroyed through business as usual marketing. A 2019 Forbes article titled “The Trust Crisis in Business” noted:

A lack of trust is a significant threat to an organization’s ability to grow, according to more than half of the CEOs surveyed by PwC in 2016.

In 2023, the Edelman Trust Barometer issued a special report that included the following observations, among others:

Seventy-one percent of people say that it is more important to trust the brands they buy/use today than in the past. 

When consumers trust a brand, they are more likely to purchase its products (59 percent) and stay loyal to and advocate for the brand (67 percent).

Sadly, Gallup reports that the percentage of people expressing “Great deal/Quite a lot” of confidence has dropped between 2021 and 2023 from 70% to 65% for small businesses, from 29% to 26% for large technology companies, from 18% to 14% for big business, and from 33% to 26% for banks.

We believe leading faithfully through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing requires cultivating an organizational culture of integrity that builds trust by prioritizing truthfulness in marketing.  Such a culture:

• Reflects Imago Dei and Humanizes People because God is truthful, which means people are more fully human when they are encouraged to act truthfully.

• Reflects Imago Dei because telling the truth treats people with dignity and prioritizes relationships.

• Beautifies the World and embodies the Golden Rule and the commandment to love your neighbor because customers value, and employees thrive in, high-trust organizations.

• Glorifies God by aligning with Biblical calls for honesty and dependability.

• Reinforces to employees the organization’s commitment to doing the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons, and its commitment to a “Should We” rather than a “Can We” organizational culture.

Truthfulness in marketing also includes transparency in pricing, which was the topic of post #194 (Integrity Idea 033: Provide Plain Pricing).  In that post, we took a deeper dive into the issues around “junk fees”, hidden fees, and dishonesty in labeling fees–all of which represent business as usual marketing.

Unselfishness. The Blue Fairy’s call to unselfishness captures the Biblical principles embodied in the Golden Rule and the commandment to love your neighbor.  It also captures what we described in post #189 (First Things-Righteousness) as the heart of the “First Thing” of Righteousness.  We summed up Righteousness–one of the four “First Things” principles embodied in Integriosity^®–as living out our God-given purpose by living generously through loving others and stewarding creation.  In the words of Tim Keller (quoting Bible scholar Bruce Waltke), “The very definition of righteous people is that they disadvantage themselves to advantage others.”

Unselfishness in marketing translates into a mindset of “serving neighbors” rather than “converting customers”.  The goal is to help people make wise decisions, rather than luring them into uninformed ones or pressuring them into rushed ones. Success is measured by customers who flourish and trust the organization rather than sales targets and click-through rates.

When Pinocchio marketing is done unselfishly in alignment with the Golden Rule and the commandment to love your neighbor, advertisements do not hide what a customer needs to know to make an informed decision or exploit fears and insecurities.  They give people the dignity of real agency–even if that loses some sales that could have been captured with business as usual marketing.

Marketing with a “Nose” for Deception and Manipulation

A key goal of Integriosity is the cultivation of an organizational culture in which employees do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons–without even thinking.  Such a culture must abandon the “Can We” attitude of business as usual and replace it with a “Should We” attitude, which has been the subject of many of our posts.

When a faithful leader cultivates an organizational culture in which employees ask, “Should We”, that leader will have developed a cultural “Pinocchio nose” to serve as a warning system rather than a punishment.  It is a nose that grows not to shame but to warn–revealing when truth is at risk of being stretched, or customers are at risk of being selfishly manipulated.

When employees know that the Re-Imagined Purpose, Re-Imagined Values and Re-Imagined Culture of the organization are aligned with Biblical beliefs and principles such as Imago Dei, the Golden Rule, and the commandment to love your neighbor, and prioritize relationships, community, human dignity and flourishing, business as usual marketing will become obvious and unacceptable to them.

CONTINUUM: Practices

The Integriosity model organizes “heart change” along six Covert-Overt Continuums.  There is nothing magic about these categories, but we believe they are helpful in thinking about practical execution of a Re-Imagined Purpose, Re-Imagined Values and a Re-Imagined Culture.  The Continuums are Prayer, Proclamation, Policies, Practices, Products, People.

Each Continuum represents an area in which leaders can begin to think about, plan and institute Re-Alignment changes to the heart of the organization.

“Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” is on the Practices Continuum. It is a practice the organization should adopt to affirm its commitment to pursuing a WHY, and curating and reinforcing an organizational culture, that prioritizes transparency and honesty, aligning with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities. “Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” embodies Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities that an organization must seek to embed in its culture if it is committed to operating with faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing.

COVERT-OVERT RATING: Highly Covert

The Integriosity model breaks the Covert-Overt Continuums into six gradations–from Highly Covert to Highly Overt–that we believe are helpful in beginning to pray and think about what is most appropriate for an organization at a particular moment in time.

Most Integrity Ideas will have one place on the scale.  Some can vary depending on how they are implemented.

“Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” is Highly Covert (an action that would be taken by a secular company), but it can move to the overt end of the Continuum if the leaders of the organization choose to explain it in terms of faith and Biblical principles.

STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees, Customers/Clients

When we categorize faith-based actions, we also consider the stakeholders principally impacted by the action: Employees, Customers/Clients, Owners, Suppliers/Vendors, Community and Kingdom.

“Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” is aimed at loving and respecting Customers/Clients, but it also serves Employees by encouraging and allowing them to become more fully human by working in alignment with God’s design–in alignment with Imago Dei, the Golden Rule and the commandment to love their neighbor.

IMPLEMENTATION

“Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” embodies Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities that a faithful leader must seek to embed in an organizational culture if the organization is committed to marketing with faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing.  Pinocchio didn’t become a real boy by performing clever puppet tricks.  He became real by listening to the wisdom of his conscience, Jiminy Cricket, and living out the principles called out by the Blue Fairy–bravery, truthfulness and unselfishness.

Principles are called out to an organization’s employees through its Re-Imagined Purpose and its Re-Imagined Values.  Those principles are reinforced through a “conscience” of a Re-Imagined Culture–a culture that constantly reinforces the principles that are meant to guide it. We have emphasized this process in several posts, such as:

Integrity Idea 002: Proclaim a Faithful Purpose (#128) It is about proclaiming the organization’s bigger WHY through a clear, written purpose statement.

Integrity Idea 013: Set a Values “Plumb-Line” (#143) It is about Re-Imagining and communicating values that reflect and support the organization’s bigger WHY.

Integrity Idea 038: Recall Your Faithful Purpose (#208) It is implementing practices to remind your stakeholders about your WHY–your organization’s Re-Imagined Purpose as reflected in its Re-Imagined Values.

Integrity Idea 040: Set Integrity Boundaries (#210) It is about faithful leaders identifying, establishing and communicating the integrity lines the organization will not cross in how it operates, no matter the cost.

Integrity Idea 043: Create a Cue Card (#213) It is about literally creating a pocket-sized card that helps employees remember values, principles or practices critical to ensuring that the organization’s behavior aligns with its purpose.

Integrity Idea 054: Onboard with Intention (#230) It is about designing an onboarding process for new employees that introduces, reflects and reinforces the most important elements of the organization’s Re-Imagined Purpose, Re-Imagined Values and Re-imagined Culture.

Aligning an organizational culture with a desired set of principles must start with an honest assessment of the current culture.  We provided guideposts in post #146 (Integrity Idea 014: Understand Your “Real” Culture). An honest assessment of culture requires an honest assessment of what employees experience to be the real WHY behind the organization’s purpose, values and culture.  What do employees understand to be the goal of marketing?  Do they see it as serving customers or converting customers?  What “success” in marketing is rewarded?

“Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” could involve building a “Pinocchio” test to be applied by employees when evaluating marketing initiatives. For example, it could include questions such as:

• Is it exaggerating through vague superlatives (“best”, “top”, “#1”, “world-class”) without verifiable support?

• Is it making promises that can’t be kept, either explicitly or implicitly through the use of select testimonials or biased studies.

• Is it leaving out or burying in fine print important downsides, warnings, caveats or terms that are important to an informed choice?

• Would I be able to make a wise decision based upon the information?  Would I want my children/parents/grandparents making a decision without knowing more?

• Could I be misled by the marketing?

• Is it using manipulative psychological practices to prey upon people’s fears, insecurities, ignorance or desperation?

• Whether or not it satisfies legal and even ethical requirements, does it pass the “Should We” test of integrity?

Some of our past posts are good starting points for developing a culture of honesty and transparency that builds customer and employee trust. Consider these:

Integrity Idea 033: Provide “Plain” Pricing (#194) It is about providing customers with transparent and honest information about the price of the organization’s products and services.

Integrity Idea 040: Set Integrity Boundaries (#210) It is about faithful leaders identifying, establishing and communicating the integrity lines the organization will not cross in how it operates, no matter the cost.

Integrity Idea 047: Be Trustworthy (#218) It is about putting in place policies and practices to ensure that the organization’s stakeholders feel they can trust the organization and its people.

Cultural change comes through the RE-ALIGN step of the Integriosity process, and that is the slowest step.  It also assumes that the faithful leader has moved through the steps of RENEW and RE-IMAGINE.

A faithful leader considering implementing “Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” should also ensure that they have a Jiminy Cricket conscience.  This involves seeking what we have called “vertical wisdom” as well as “horizontal wisdom”.  Scripture is clear about the importance of having a Jiminy Cricket:

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. (Proverbs 12:15)

Without counsel plans fail, but with advisors they succeed. (Proverbs 15:22)

We have addressed seeking vertical and horizontal wisdom in these posts:

Integrity Idea 063: Seek Vertical Counsel (#245) It is about a faithful leader praying, either privately or with a small group of other leaders in the organization, for wisdom and guidance in every decision.

Integrity Idea 064: Seek Horizontal Counsel (#246) It is about a faithful leader actively seeking counsel from faithful advisors as well as from the people they lead. 

No discussion of implementing “Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” would be complete without addressing bravery.  Pinocchio marketing is countercultural. In one of our most used quotes, James Hunter warns:  “To enact a vision of human flourishing based in the qualities of life that Jesus modeled will invariably challenge the given structures of the social order. In this light, there is no true leadership without putting at risk one’s time, wealth, reputation, and position.”

Resistance is certain when challenging “the given structures of the social order” in a fallen world.  The Bible warns that those following God’s commands will have trouble (John 16:33), be persecuted (Romans 12:14), suffer affliction (Romans 12:12), be accused of wrongdoing (1 Peter 2:12) and suffer unjustly (1 Peter 2:19).  Resistance may come from employees, customers, vendors, owners, regulators and communities.

Implementing “Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” requires bravery, and bravery requires trust in God. It is about doing the right thing, regardless of the personal cost.

A marketing culture built on bravery, truthfulness, and unselfishness reflects and reinforces an organizational culture built on Imago Dei, the Golden Rule, and the commandment to love your neighbor–a culture that prioritizes relationships, community, human dignity and flourishing. It not only Humanizes employees by helping them become more fully human and customers by treating them with dignity, but it also Beautifies the World by serving as a witness to customers of the bigger WHY of the organization.  By Humanizing and Beautifying, “Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” Glorifies God.

PERSONAL NOTE (from PM):  When I started writing this post, the title was “Avoid Pinocchio Marketing”–then I refreshed myself on the Pinocchio story.  I had only a vague recollection of Jiminy Cricket as a conscience and absolutely no recollection of the Blue Fairy’s call to bravery, truthfulness, and unselfishness.  Do today’s Disney films still call us to live such qualities?

Now the rant. Business as usual marketing bothers me. This post was inspired by a recent experience with an offering on Instagram.  It was for a “Buffalo Trace 250th Anniversary Advent Calendar” promising a different small whiskey bottle each day.  The ad showed someone pouring bourbon from an airplane bottle into a glass.  When the product arrived, I discovered that each window contained a teeny-tiny plastic replica of a whiskey bottle.  What a disappointment as it was meant as a gift.  Thankfully, they had a 90-day satisfaction guarantee.  When I contacted them, they offered to let me keep the item and refund 50%.  When I said, “no thanks”, they refunded the full amount with no return required.  It made me lose trust not only in this vendor but also in Instagram ads generally.

To continue the rant, I lose trust in a fast-food chain when my food looks nothing like the advertisements, even though I know it won’t. I want to change the channel when people are singing and dancing about a new drug to lower their A1C, help them lose weight, or alleviate depression while the risks appear in fine print or are read by a narrator while the music plays (my personal view is that prescription pharmaceuticals should not be advertised).  I want nothing to do with a company that puts a timer on my phone in order to create an impression of scarcity or tells me they could soon be out of stock. And don’t even get me started on the videos that drag on for 15 minutes or more without ever delivering what they promised would be revealed (yes, I have been suckered in).

ESSENCE:  Integrity Ideas are specific actions a faithful leader can consider in leading faithfully through business a better way.

INTEGRITY IDEA: Encourage “Pinocchio Marketing”

Confused? Don’t worry–we are not advocating deceptive marketing that causes a faithful leader’s nose to grow.  “Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” is about faithful leaders cultivating a marketing culture with a heart for the qualities that allowed Pinocchio to become a real boy–bravery, truthfulness and unselfishness–and a nose capable of detecting potentially deceptive or manipulative marketing before it is implemented.  “Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” recognizes that marketing in the way of the kingdom of the world is often deceptive and selfish–manipulating and preying upon customers to maximize sales and ultimately profit, but marketing in the way of the Kingdom of God should glorify God by being truthful and unselfish–informing and serving customers to maximize Biblical flourishing.  It also recognizes the importance of first impressions. Creating honest marketing in a marketplace built on exaggeration and sleight-of-hand requires courage, and courage requires trust in God. A marketing culture built on bravery, truthfulness, and unselfishness reflects and reinforces an organizational culture built on Imago Dei, the Golden Rule, and the commandment to love your neighbor–a culture that glorifies God by prioritizing relationships, community, human dignity and flourishing. “Encourage Pinocchio Marketing” embodies Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities that a faithful leader must seek to embed in an organizational culture if the organization is committed to operating with faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing.

COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action):  Practices

COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt):  Highly Covert

STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees, Customers/Clients

Copyright © 2025 Integrous LLC.  Integriosity is a registered Service Mark of Integrous LLC.

Photo credit: Original image by John Tekeridis: https://www.pexels.com/photo/vibrant-pinocchio-character-at-disneyland-parade-28505395/
(image cropped)