Sunday, October 12, 2008

Argentine partygoers lured into clubs with breast enlargements

It is a raffle with the ultimate booby prize. For the cost of an entry ticket to an Argentine disco - between £2 and £8 - partygoers are entered into a prize draw in which the winning ticket is worth more than £1,000. The jackpot? A breast-enlargement operation.

Promoters across the country are putting up signs with slogans such as “I want my breasts” as a new way of attracting women - and men who could give such a gift to their girlfriends or spouses - to their clubs.

In a country where the minimum monthly wage is 600 pesos (£110), cosmetic surgery of this kind is well out of reach for those who might want to change their figure.

The discos have proved a huge draw in Argentina, where the subject of plastic surgery, and breast enlargements in particular, is discussed on TV shows as well as in bars. Debates focus on details such as the relative merits of silicon versus gel implants, whether it is better to place the implant under or above the breast muscle, or where the surgeon should make the incision.

Some Argentinians have sardonically labelled the phenomenon Bailando por las lolas, or Dancing for the Breasts - a play on the popular TV programme Bailando con las estrellas, or Dancing with the Stars. Plastic surgeons have condemned the discos, saying that cosmetic surgery involves serious medical procedures.

“You cannot raffle implants as if they were electrical goods,” Francisco Famá, spokesman for the Argentine Plastic Surgeons Association, said.

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