According to this article, the first "pick up guide" on how to pick up girls came out in 1970.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pick_Up_Artist
How concerned were young males in picking up random women from the streets in historical times? I imagine that it would not have been socially acceptable or even punishable in some societies due to social norms. Parents would likely have had arranged marriages for their sons and daughters, which means that virtually all children from good families would be guaranteed a spouse as a way to solidify social relations.
Would "Pick up artists" have existed in ancient and historical times or is this trend more of a contemporary marketing gimick?
Well, I suppose you could say that the first "Pick Up Artist" was the Roman poet Ovid, who wrote the Art of Love, or Ars Amatoria. It's pretty tongue-in-cheek, and mocks people who write "how to" poetry (a pretty popular genre in the ancient world...people wrote "how to" poems on everything from farming to makeup). Here's one of my favorite passages as a sample:
Don’t forget the races, those noble stallions: the Circus holds room for a vast obliging crowd. No need here for fingers to give secret messages, nor a nod of the head to tell you she accepts: You can sit by your lady: nothing’s forbidden, press your thigh to hers, as you can do, all the time: and it’s good the rows force you close, even if you don’t like it, since the girl is touched through the rules of the place. Now find your reason for friendly conversation, and first of all engage in casual talk. Make earnest enquiry whose those horses are: and rush to back her favourite, whatever it is. When the crowded procession of ivory gods goes by, you clap fervently for Lady Venus: if by chance a speck of dust falls in the girl’s lap, as it may, let it be flicked away by your fingers: and if there’s nothing, flick away the nothing: let anything be a reason for you to serve her. If her skirt is trailing too near the ground, lift it, and raise it carefully from the dusty earth: Straightaway, the prize for service, if she allows it, is that your eyes catch a glimpse of her legs.
But, he may have gotten in trouble for this poem. He published it when the Emperor Augustus had just enacted morality legislation to encourage the production of legitimate children by the upper classes (fucked up in itself, but that's how they thought back then). At several points, the Ars Amatoria gives instructions on how to carry out affairs, which Augustus would have frowned upon, even though it was all intended as an elegant joke. Augustus exiled Ovid, and Ovid wrote that he was punished for carmen and error, "a song and a mistake". Many have speculated that the song was the Ars Amatoria.