diff --git a/defaults.go b/defaults.go
index b9f97966..5d250565 100644
--- a/defaults.go
+++ b/defaults.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"math/rand"
 	"reflect"
 	"strings"
+	"text/template"
 	"time"
 )
 
@@ -154,8 +155,8 @@ func mustToRawJson(v interface{}) (string, error) {
 }
 
 // ternary returns the first value if the last value is true, otherwise returns the second value.
-func ternary(vt interface{}, vf interface{}, v bool) interface{} {
-	if v {
+func ternary(vt interface{}, vf interface{}, v interface{}) interface{} {
+	if truth, ok := template.IsTrue(v); ok && truth {
 		return vt
 	}
 
diff --git a/defaults_test.go b/defaults_test.go
index a35ebf62..8bd6292f 100644
--- a/defaults_test.go
+++ b/defaults_test.go
@@ -193,4 +193,24 @@ func TestTernary(t *testing.T) {
 	if err := runt(tpl, "bar"); err != nil {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
+
+	tpl = `{{ternary "foo" "bar" "baz"}}`
+	if err := runt(tpl, "foo"); err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
+
+	tpl = `{{"baz" | ternary "foo" "bar"}}`
+	if err := runt(tpl, "foo"); err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
+
+	tpl = `{{ternary "foo" "bar" ""}}`
+	if err := runt(tpl, "bar"); err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
+
+	tpl = `{{"" | ternary "foo" "bar"}}`
+	if err := runt(tpl, "bar"); err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
 }