Club's booby prize lacking full support

Jacqui Le Prou says Calendar Girls will give away 10 pairs of breasts at a cost of around $100,000. Photo / Doug Sherring

Suggestions that a "win yourself a set of boobs" competition, organised by a strip club, will benefit breast cancer survivors has caused outrage this week.

Calendar Girls strip club in Auckland is advertising the ultimate booby prize in fact 10 pairs of them on their website and on seven radio stations. But claims by the club that the competition for artificial breasts will benefit breast cancer survivors are not stacking up with some.

Director of Calendar Girls New Zealand Jacqui Le Prou said she hoped women in legitimate need of a pair of breasts, including cancer survivors, would enter the competition. Her mother and mother-in-law had breast cancer and she thought an operation of this kind could help other women experiencing their situation.

"I would like to see this go to someone in need of them. Breast cancer is very close to home for me and many in the club. At the end of the day, it's the judges and the crowd that choose."

The new breasts would be given to women who competed in a series of heats held in the Auckland club's sports bar during the year, and winners would be determined by guest judges.

New Zealand Association of Plastic Surgeons president Howard Klein is outraged by the competition.

He says any plastic surgeon who carries out the breast augmentation will be violating the association's code of conduct which prohibits giving away an operation as part of a raffle or competition.

"The augmentation is an operation that requires a formal plastic surgery consultation, consideration of alternatives and a full informed consent about all the risks inherent in the procedure," he said.

Klein is confident that no specialist plastic surgeon will participate in, or support the contest. Green MP and acting women's affairs spokeswoman Holly Walker said the party was against all forms of discrimination against women.

"It's an inappropriate thing to offer as a prize and our major concerns are that it's a major form of surgery that poses a considerable risk and we're concerned about the message it fundamentally gives about body image.

"It's pretty gross. It's a long shot to say it could support breast cancer survivors it's another justification people come up with after the fact to make them more legitimate," she said.

Le Prou defended the club 's giveaway and believed it stacked up legally. Calendar Girls' management had not decided which surgeon would carry out the procedure but said each winner of a heat could choose their own.

"The heats will all be different competitions including bikini, costume, amateur strip, popularity or best butt," Le Prou said.

Calendar Girls would pick up the bill for the 10 operations a combined worth of around $100,000.

So far the campaign, which targets women over 18, has attracted more than 200 applications.