The M&C Saatchi campaign for alcohol industry body the Portman Group features two different spots, which each star chimps. One has Jo, a female chimp, and the other has Joe, a young male chimp.
In the ads, a group of friends are on a night out with the chimpanzee, who starts out funny but starts to turn nasty as more alcohol is consumed.
The ad has been slammed as totally unacceptable by the charity Captive Animals' Protection Society, which is demanding the Portman Group withdraw the spots.
Craig Redmond, CAPS campaigns officer, said: "Chimpanzees are extremely intelligent animals with highly complex needs and should not be subjected to the humiliation and distress of being trained to perform in this manner, which clearly seeks to ridicule them."
He added: "There is obviously a very serious message behind this commercial about excessive drinking. Unfortunately, this message is likely to be lost. We have today called on M&C Saatchi and the Portman Group to immediately withdraw this commercial."
The Portman Group has hit back by saying that the shoot, which took place in the US, was overseen by the American Humane Association and that all guidelines were followed.
A spokesman for the group said: "We are making a point about people and their behaviour, that being with people who have had too much to drink is like having to look after a wild animal."
He added that a vet and the chimpanzees' handlers had been on set at all times during the shoot.
CAPS says that the use of chimps in ads presents a number of welfare problems because younger chimps are used, leading to more breeding in captivity, and says that there is evidence of cruelty in training chimps to perform.
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.
More recently, last year 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.
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