Plot

After learning that her prophylactic of choice is being discontinued, Elaine buys a case of Today sponges and scrutinizes her dates for their sponge-worthiness.

Elaine's birth control method of choice is being discontinued and she goes all over New York to find the last remaining case. After she successfully finds it, she then begins the agonizing process of determining whether or not her dates are "sponge-worthy." Kramer participates in an AIDS walk but when he refuses to wear the ribbon, he suffers the consequences. Meanwhile, Jerry meets a woman and doesn't get her phone number. He then gets it from the list of participants in the AIDS walk. He tells George, who proceeds to tell Susan, who then starts a chain reaction of phone calls and ultimately winds up getting back to Jerry, who gets dumped as a result.—halo1k

Kramer is seeking sponsors for an upcoming AIDS walk but plays poker all night just before and refuses to wear an AIDS-awareness ribbon. Jerry happily sponsors Kramer for the walk, especially after Kramer's list has the phone number of an attractive woman he's recently met. Elaine meanwhile is upset to learn that her preferred contraceptive method, the sponge, had been taken off the market. She manages to find some but knowing there will be no more available must decide if future partners are sponge-worthy.—garykmcd

Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer are at Monk's Cafe and they mention that Jerry still wears a size 31 pair of jeans. Jerry doesn't dispute that conversation about his jeans size. Kramer also mentions the female contraceptive sponge is being taken off the market. Kramer passes both of them an AIDS Walk sheet for them to sign. While reading the list of signatures Jerry sees a girl's name (Lena, played by Jennifer Guthrie) whom he once met, but does not know her unlisted number. Jerry takes down the number and calls the girl. Jerry calls Lena and claims that he got her number from a friend. He even lies to George that he ran into Lena. George and his fiance Susan (Heidi Swedberg) get into a fight about sharing their secrets; in order to get back into her good graces, George tells her that Jerry does not actually wear size 31 jeans.

Meanwhile, Elaine goes on a 25-block radius hunt to find the contraceptive sponges. When she finally arrives at a pharmacy which still carries them, she purchases a full case at Pasteur Pharmacy from a pharmacist named Roger Hoffman (David Byrd), who acts a little suspicious since Elaine wants a whole case. Her limited supply requires that she restrict her usage. She puts her current boyfriend, Billy (Scott Patterson), through a rigorous examination to make sure he is "sponge-worthy".

Jerry tells George that he found his new girlfriend on the AIDS Walk list. George then tells Susan against Jerry's wishes and gets back into Susan's good books, who wants to have make-up sex with George. Susan loves the sponge as a birth control method & since the pharmacies are out, George asks Elaine for one. Elaine refuses to help George out. Susan then tells her friend about how he got Lena's number, who tells a friend until the phone tree reaches Lena. When George comes to Jerry's apartment, Jerry tells him that George is "out of the loop" because he told Susan about how he got Lena's number. When Jerry later learns from Lena that she doesn't mind him taking her number from the AIDS Walk list, he gets turned off from her being "too good" and that he doesn't want to be with someone who is "giving and caring and genuine concerned about the welfare of others." Susan begs George to use a condom, but he refuses saying that he can never get them open in time.

When Kramer takes part in the AIDS Walk, he refuses to wear an AIDS ribbon in opposition to "ribbon bullies", led by Bob (Yul Vazquez) and Cedric (John Paragon) from "The Soup Nazi" episode. (The story-line appeared to be based on the real-life controversy of former Days of Our Lives actress Deidre Hall, who (in 1993) publicly refused to wear AIDS ribbons at public events, such as the Daytime Emmys. Hall claimed that the volunteers who passed out the ribbons bullied celebrities into wearing the ribbons.) When they and several walkers confront Kramer about the ribbon, he states he doesn't want to wear it since he lives in America, culminating in the group to attack Kramer; he attempts to flee up a fire escape, but is dragged down and attacked.

At Lena's, Jerry finds out that she has a lifetime supply of contraceptive sponges (assuming the boxes shown are all she has, there are approximately 720 sponges) and realizes that "she is depraved." While trying to disguise that he has seen the sponges, he tells her his secret about his jeans and she dumps him - she figures he is not "sponge-worthy". Later at the AIDS Walk, Jerry and George see Kramer (dishevelled after getting attacked by the "ribbon bullies") stumble across the finishing line; Jerry, however, assumes this was because Kramer had exhausted himself (from running up several flights of stairs and having a poker game the night before the Walk). George then asks Kramer where his ribbon is, causing Kramer to look up at him in despair.

At Elaine's, she presumably ends her relationship with Billy since she still plans on conserving her sponges.