diff --git a/license_sh/helpers.py b/license_sh/helpers.py
index a7c4139..686f980 100644
--- a/license_sh/helpers.py
+++ b/license_sh/helpers.py
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ def is_license_ok(license_text, whitelist):
     try:
         license = licensing.parse(license_text)
     except:
-        return license_text in whitelist
+        return f"{license_text}" in whitelist
 
     if license is None:
         return None
diff --git a/tests/runners/test_helpers.py b/tests/runners/test_helpers.py
index 3e77f28..1a0f966 100644
--- a/tests/runners/test_helpers.py
+++ b/tests/runners/test_helpers.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 from license_sh.helpers import (
     flatten_dependency_tree,
     annotate_dep_tree,
+    is_license_ok,
     extract_npm_license,
     get_npm_license_from_licenses_array,
     UNKNOWN,
@@ -225,6 +226,29 @@ def test_bad_licenses_identified__one_package_ignored_by_package_whitelist(self)
         _, unknown_licenses = annotate_dep_tree(tree, whitelist, ignored_packages)
         self.assertSetEqual(set({"GPL"}), unknown_licenses)
 
+    def test_is_license_ok_simple(self):
+        self.assertEqual(is_license_ok("MIT", ["MIT"]), True)
+
+    def test_is_license_ok_negative(self):
+        self.assertEqual(is_license_ok("MIT", [""]), False)
+
+    def test_is_license_ok_brackets(self):
+        self.assertEqual(is_license_ok("MIT AND Zlib", ["MIT", "Zlib"]), True)
+
+    def test_is_license_ok_json(self):
+        self.assertEqual(
+            is_license_ok(
+                {
+                    "type": "MIT",
+                    "url": "https://github.com/thlorenz/bunyan-format/blob/master/LICENSE",
+                },
+                [
+                    "{'type': 'MIT', 'url': 'https://github.com/thlorenz/bunyan-format/blob/master/LICENSE'}"
+                ],
+            ),
+            True,
+        )
+
     def test_extract_npm_license_None_data(self):
         name = extract_npm_license(None, None)
         self.assertEqual(name, None)