Did Disney Invent Jiminy Cricket, Too?!

I live in Florence, Italy, and a tourist came up to me once to ask:

Tourist: “Why is every shop selling Pinocchio gadgets?”

That day she learned that Disney didn’t invent this character and that it was formerly a book. She was happy to learn and went along with her day, but to me and my colleagues, it sounded like a really dumb question.

That story always makes me giggle, but I wonder if this woman was really oblivious or the news I gave her was obvious just in Italy.