Lonnie and Kara here, tasked once again with critiquing a new advertising campaign that we really feel passionate about. Here’s the problem: there aren’t many right now. This is the time of year when local car guys try to sell you a clunker and marketers hold their dollars back for when American Idol returns to the screen.

So for this post we picked a campaign that has been around for a while. But these babies are still cranking out an ad here and there. See the latest E*trade baby commercials.

What do we think?

Kara: They’re freaking hilarious! E*trade took a subject that’s been making everybody cringe—the stock market—and made me laugh. I mean, how can you not laugh at a baby calling an old guy in a sweater vest “Shankapotamus” or saying he wants to “punch the economy in the face”?

Lonnie: Really? Talking babies? Sure, I will admit that this was funny, 2 years ago! They got their money’s worth from this campaign. Time to evolve or move on. No wonder the economy is in such bad shape, you have babies working the market. What stocks do babies trade, Toys R Us? Did the Wiggles go public?

Kara: Maybe they’re trading diapers. I don’t care. What I care about is the fact that the makers are brilliant. They get away with using the lowest quality video available, on purpose. And when the baby spits up, instead of yelling cut, they just crack a joke about how the economy makes him sick. Oh, and by the way, it did evolve. He now has baby friends!

Lonnie: Babies shouldn’t be trading diapers, they should be filling them. We are living in a recession. We need hope and confidence. We need a Sam Waterston as a spokesperson, not the Gerber baby with a credit line. Your money is no laughing matter and if I caught my toddler on a “playdate” with my 401k, I would definitely put her in time out. Bad Baby, NO!

Kara: You and your living in a recession crap! You sound like my dad. Stop watching the five o’clock news and turn on some Family Guy. Laugh a little. 4.4 million other people took five minutes out of their recession-driven lives to watch the latest Baby Outtakes video. And I must say, it cracked me up.

Lonnie: If I were your dad, I would send you to your room with no dinner. That’s part of the problem, too many people have changed the channel from the news to Family Guy. I would suggest that those 4.4 million viewers need to get off of YouTube and spend more time on Monster.com looking for a job. Plus, talking babies just creep me out. It’s not natural.

Kara: Hey, I have a job. Oh, by the way, who is Sam Waterston?

Lonnie: You know, The Great Gatsby, The Killing Fields, Mindwalk?

Kara: Wait a minute…wasn’t he on Family Guy?

Lonnie: Nevermind.