T.D., his mother, Mrs. Clusky, Francois, Truman (though he's not enjoying it), and the Lorraines are watching a music video on TV. He is entering in a contest and Martha wants to vote for him several times, but Mariella thinks that's unethical. Danny then reads in the news that Granny Flo's alphabet soup is not doing well financially due to the popularity of a soup called Oodles of "O"s, and that Granny Flo may go out of business.
Martha tries speaking in "O"s, but Helen can't understand, so Martha and Helen try to brainstorm outside the cafe with T.D. and Truman. T.D. suggests advertising the soup, and Helen thinks it's a good idea, but doesn't know what makes an ad "cool". T.D. suggests either humour or something the people would want to buy. Truman suggests putting Shakespeare in the cans, but Helen thinks Shakespeare is too unpopular. Martha suggests putting bones in the cans, but Truman points out that that'd only work on dogs and Helen points out that it would break people's teeth.
T.D. suggests pretending that there is a million dollars in every can, but Helen vetoes the idea since that would be dishonest. She explains what lying is, using an example of claiming the soup makes you sing so well you'll win the prize on International Icon, which gives Martha the idea of Granny Flo advertising on there because the show is popular.
The kids and Martha try to tell Granny Flo, but aren't let in. Then, Martha hears Granny Flo complaining to Granny Elsie's portrait about not being allowed to fire her employees. Martha climbs up and through the window and tells Granny Flo to advertise on International Icon. Granny Flo reluctantly decides to, but she says she needs a "dynamic" spokesperson, so Martha volunteers. Granny agrees and sends Martha out, who tells the kids about the ad, which will be showing the next night at eight o'clock.
That evening, Helen reads the script to Martha so she can rehearse her lines, but baulks when she gets to a part that claims the soup makes dogs talk. She notes that this would be a lie, since it only works on Martha, and if people found out that it wasn't true, they'd get angry and could boycott the factory and/or hold a grudge against Martha.
When Helen and Martha tell Granny Flo, she changes the script so that she tells the lie and Martha agrees with her, which Helen explains is just as bad. Then, Martha runs onstage and they perform the commercial. However, when Granny claims it makes dogs talk and asks Martha for confirmation, Martha just barks, so that nobody would believe the lie. Granny Flo doesn't like this, but the ad becomes very popular.
This episode provides examples of
- Air Quotes: Granny makes quotation marks with her fingers when quoting Martha's line "Good soup is your business".
- Animals See in Monochrome: Martha claims not to be able to see colours.
- Baby See, Baby Do: When the guy in the music video sings, "Oh, baby, yeah!", Jake (who's about 19-21 months old) says, "Baby, baby, baby!".
- Big "YES!": Helen says, "YES!" when Martha doesn't go through with agreeing with a lie.
- Continuity Nod:
- Granny Flo complains to Granny Elsie's portrait about not being allowed to fire her workers, which is a reference to "Martha Blah Blah", in which Martha told her not to and Flo thought it was the painting talking.
- Helen remembers when she and her parents fed alphabet soup to Skits, which happened in "Martha and Skits".
- Copycat Mockery: Granny Flo mimics Martha's "Good soup is your business" line from "Martha Blah Blah" in a high voice to ridicule it.
- Delayed Reaction: While Martha immediately cottons onto the fact that if Granny Flo goes out of business, she won't be able to speak, the Lorraines initially don't realise until she points it out.
- Entertainment Above Their Age: Even though he's only nine, Truman is revealed to like Shakespeare.
- "Eureka!" Moment: When Helen gives claiming that the alphabet soup will make you sing well enough to win International Icon as an example of a lie, this gives Martha the idea of having Granny Flo advertise on said show.
- Gray Rain of Depression: When Martha is imagining herself sadly living in a doghouse, she imagines it raining.
- Honesty Aesop: This episode has a moral about how lying is wrong, when Martha is asked to lie in an ad but must not.
- "I Can't Look!" Gesture: When Granny Flo lies in her ad, Helen covers her eyes and says, "I can't watch!".
- I Don't Think That's Such a Good Idea: Helen warns Martha against lying on the commercial and explains what might happen if she did.
- Intelligible Unintelligible: Subverted. Martha tries to make herself understood by speaking in "O"s, but it doesn't work.
- Oh, Crap!: Martha instantly becomes fearful when she hears that Granny Flo may go out of business.
- Only One Finds It Fun: Discussed. Helen thinks that if Granny Flo put Shakespeare in the alphabet soup cans, only Truman would buy one.
- Pun: Martha says that she would be "soup-erb" at being a spokesperson (or rather, spokesdog) on a soup ad.
- Stock Animal Diet: Martha suggests putting free bones in the soup cans to sell them, but Truman thinks that would only work on dogs.
- Title Drop: When Danny says that Granny Flo might go out of business, Martha replies, "Out of business?! Oh no!".
- The Tooth Hurts: Discussed when Helen says that if Granny Flo added bones to her soup, people may break their teeth.
- The Unintelligible: Discussed when Martha fears she may have to switch to a soup with only "O"s and thus only be able to speak in "O"s.
- Who's on First?: When Truman is stuck on a crossword clue that's a nine-letter word for "not telling the truth", Helen says, "It's dishonest" as a response to Martha's question of why they shouldn't pretend there's money in the soup. Truman thinks she's helping him with the crossword.
- Will Not Tell a Lie: Lampshaded when Helen notes that she should have known Martha wouldn't lie on the ad, since she tends not to lie anyway.
- You Can Talk?: Upon realising that it's Martha talking, Granny Flo says that a talking dog is "astounding".
