'Sexual' Orangina ad angers viewers and children's charity

They gyrate around poles, grind against men's laps, and gaze provocatively at the camera, their soaked breasts spilling out of tiny bikinis. But the stars of this sexually explicit advert are not women, they are animals; and the product they promote is not a raunchy men's magazine, but the children's drink Orangina.

The Naturally Juicy advert, which features scantily dressed anthropomorphised gazelles, giraffes and flamingos, has generated a wave of criticism since it hit British TV screens earlier this month, with viewers, children's charities and equal rights groups up in arms over its sexual – and, some believe, sexist – content.

Shots of Orangina bottles exploding between the thighs of zebras and squirting on to the breasts of other animals were said to have proved particularly offensive.

Equal rights groups are unhappy with the way in which female animals are depicted as lap dancers, gyrating around and pandering to the male animals.

"Orangina is a drink which is mainly aimed at children and young people, but this new advert places the product in a very sexualised and provocative context" said Claude Knights, director of children's charity Kidscape.

"The almost sinister portrayal of animals in an animation style filled with sexual innuendo leads to very mixed and confused messages," said Mrs Knights.

"Kidscape's main concern is that this is yet another example of the blatant use of sexual images to sell products to young people." The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has received 147 complaints about the advert, which was first screened on 1 August on E4 during How to Look Good Naked, and is scheduled to be shown after 9pm throughout August.

"We are looking at the complaints, and haven't made a decision about whether or not to investigate yet. This is a question of taste and decency" said Olivia Campbell, a spokesperson for the ASA.

The advert was created by French agency FFL Paris and first screened in France.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group, which owns the brand, was unavailable for comment, but the makers of the advert said that it was conceived around the idea of "pulpeuse", which in French means both "containing pulp" and also "voluptuous" or "sexy".