At rock gigs, hysterical fans throw knickers and their house keys onto the stage.
On the political campaign trail, followers are desperate to hand over their babies.
From president Obama and Hillary Clinton to Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, all candidates are expected to adopt a charmed smile and accept the fleshy gifts with flailing limbs, damp nappies and all.
It is almost a rite of passage. Take a baby. Don't drop it. And then onto the White House.
In Donald Trump’s case, the father of five knows the value of a photo opportunity. At a recent rally in Colorado Springs, the Republican nominee took not one baby but two, one in each arm.
He turned to face the cameras, bounced them around a bit, puckered up and landed them two smackaroos on the head.
The risk was that he had turned away from the parents. As the noise of the delighted crowds reached fever pitch - Baby! In Trump’s Arms! Ahhh! - the bamboozled babies looked like two lost little lambs indeed. Their little eyes blinked in the swarm of reporters and the blinding lights of their cameras. Surely a terrifying moment.
The secuity guards’ faces remained unmoved, even if their hearts were bleeding.
"They're so cute!" Mr Trump crooned.
When one of the babies started to bawl, Mr Trump, who once said he had never changed a nappy, maintained his grin as he quickly handed the child back to the mother.
The video, oddly enough, has been proudly displayed on Mr Trump’s twitter page.
It isn’t called "Look how bad I am with babies", rather it’s called "Thank you Colorado Springs!"
If a baby cries in your arms, it will not be taken kindly.
Whether the Republican candidate has advocated for the expulsion of Muslims, encouraged the Russians to spy on the Democrats or cosied up to the Ku Klux Klan, all that will be forgotten amid the great arc of history.
The baby’s memory, after all, is likely to outlive the rest of us.
