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.

Argentina is one of the leading countries in the world for cosmetic surgery, with “surgical tourists” flying in from Europe on all-inclusive packages involving tummy tucks, breast enlargements or facelifts thrown in with flights, hotels and sightseeing trips.

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.

The fear is that women as young as 18 who go to discos are too young to take such an important decision, and critics of the prize draws say that parental permission should be required up until the age of 21.

Promoters defend the draw, claiming that the public are bored with raffles for houses or holidays. “People are tired of competitions where they can win cars or motorbikes. They want something new,” Rodrigo Herrera, who runs a disco in La Rioja province in northern Argentina.

“People will never tire of sex,” he added.

At another disco in Córdoba province, promoters mulling over a slogan for their event said they were considering Sin tetas no hay paraíso - Without Breasts there is no Paradise - the title of the bestselling novel by the Colombian writer Gustavo Bolívar, which was turned into a huge television hit series in Spain.

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