I've had a dig around, having recalled something about this subject in an old TV show I watched. I've now established that it was actually in a documentary called
The Fantasy Club, which transmitted in mid December '99 and charted the lives of some girls at a lapdancing club. Remarkably, I still have it on VHS, so I've just watched it.
The girls referred to guys they'd specifically cultivated to be present-buyers as "present men" (a well-known industry term apparently), and the policy of soliciting gifts paid the girls big dividends. One girl was bought a BMW, which the buyer, via his solicitor, later tried to get back (presumably when he realised the girl wasn't really 'in love with him'). The guy said that the £7,600
he paid for the car had been the subject of a 'loan agreement'. When the girl got the solicitor's letter she literally rang the bloke and told him: "You'll never get a penny back out of me - fuck off!". She may have been playing to the camera a bit, but she'd flogged the car anyway, so he'd never have got it back. Other girls were bought very expensive jewellery, one girl was bought a £200 pair of sharp-heeled stilettos specifically so she could pulp the guy's knackers in them
, and one bloke completely emptied his bank account of thousands of pounds. The club owner said the bloke's wife rapidly divorced him. Another bloke was revealed to have spent £4,050 in the club in one night. The girls were quite open about the fact they deliberately angled for gifts and felt no discomfort about it. One girl made the point that it wasn't exploiting a kind nature, because if a bloke was just kind-natured he'd probably be giving the money to charity. I agree with her implication that you can't really exploit genuine kindness – only a self-serving motive.
Returning to babeshows, some of the girls on Party Girls (CH46) would pitch for gifts during the show intro, and at one point it became a bit of a trend (with shoe sizes being given out at regular intervals I recall), so the hints were obviously working. In the thick of the trend, some guy texted Megan Moore (who I never saw soliciting gifts) and asked her what he should buy for her. She replied: "A bagel", which I thought was a fantastic answer and showed how very grown up Megan was for the youngest girl on the show. In an ideal world I don't think there'd be anything wrong with making wish lists at all, and I don't believe they exploit anyone. If someone asks for something, and someone wants to buy it, I think that's cool. But as gazfc intelligently pointed out, the world is not ideal, and there are people who will read additional implications into having their gifts solicited and accepted by attractive girls (particularly more expensive gifts). That's why I admired Megan's tactful and humourous, but mature response to a text which could have brought her more hassle than pleasure.