Cosmetic surgery promo gives boob jobs as raffle prizes

Cosmetic surgery clinics in Britain have come under fire for using extreme marketing techniques after a breast enhancement was one of the prizes offered in a nightclub’s raffle draw.

The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) has condemned advertising practices in which surgical treatments are offered at a discounted rate or as part of two-for-one deals.

The Association also found plastic surgery facilities in the UK are more than twice as likely to offer financial discounts and rewards to encourage people to go under the knife than those in America, with 26 percent of UK centres doing so compared to just 12 percent in the US.

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 “It has become common to bundle together the practice of aesthetic plastic surgery such as facelifts and breast augmentation alongside beauty treatments such as facials, lasers and injectable fillers under the term 'cosmetic industry',” notes Fazel Fatah, the President of the BAAPS.

He added: “This blurring of lines has encouraged blatantly unethical marketing tactics which trivialise serious surgery, driven by greed and with very little concern for the public's safety.”

During the annual BAAPS meeting, which took place in Birmingham earlier this week, delegates also claimed some advertising campaigns breached the cosmetic surgery industry’s ethical code of conduct.

Fazel explained: “Among these are online discount deals for surgery, which violate an established code of ethics where time-linked incentives are expressly prohibited.”

The websites of clinics were also criticised. A BAAPS study found while 94 percent of websites for plastic surgery clinics in America listed the accreditation of surgeons, only 64 percent of clinic websites in the UK featured such information.  

According the BAAPS, the practitioners of the remaining 36 percent of surgery providers in the UK were not listed on either the specialist register or on the GMC at all, the latter of which means they would not be licensed to practice medicine.

Although the extreme promotions have not been well received in England, it is not the first country in the world to offer boob jobs or other treatments as a competition prize.

In 2008, the Pacha nightclub in Spain was advertising the ‘Pretty Woman’ competition which had prize of a $4500 breast enhancement.

However, after the nightclub was criticised for the promotion they abandoned their plans.

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