The ad, created by DLKW, featured Anne, a 52-year-old Asian elephant that belonged to the Bobby Roberts Circus and spends most of the year being transported from town to town, according to CAPS.
CAPS said it received a tip-off from ad industry sources that the AA was making a commercial featuring an elephant and contacted the association to express its concerns, but claimed that the group failed to answer questions over whether a vet was present and if there were any guidelines.
Craig Redmond, campaigns officer for the Captive Animals' Protection Society, said: "CAPS is totally opposed to the use of animals in entertainment.
"Not only does the use of animals in this way cause welfare problems for the individual animals, but it also damages the conservation messages aimed at protecting threatened and endangered species."
The group says it has now raised its concerns directly with Tim Parker, chief executive of the AA, with the hope that the ad is taken off the air and to prevent the use of animals in the future.
CAPS says that Anne lives in a tent behind the big top with no company from other elephants, a far cry from the 17km a day walking the animal is used to doing along with their large family herds.
CAPS has a record of having ads pulled after applying pressure and has complained in the past about a spot for Grolsch, which the brewer pulled in February 2002.
In 2003, Halfords backed down in the war of words with CAPS and agreed not to use chimpanzees in its television advertising again following a campaign created by Abott Mead Vickers BBDO.
No one at DLKW or the AA was available for comment at the time of writing.
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