This "Scandal" Smacks of a Bunch of Szar

There is something of a scandal surrounding this month's issue of Hungary's somewhat raunchier-than-the-competition lad mag CKM, after the magazine was withdrawn from almost circulation just before being released yesterday, borsonline.hu reports. The reason for this, apparently, is that cover girl Kata Sarka's fiancé Péter Hajdú threw a massive hissy fit about the pictures, (one of which is to the left), which were more revealing than he would have liked, and thus threatened to sue the publication. If you're still back at wondering just who the hell Kata Sarka or Péter Hajdú are and why this is news, well, it only gets dumber from here…

Péter Hajdú is apparently a producer or something, from best as we can tell, and Kata Sarka placed second in a Miss Universe Hungary competition sometime in the previous two years or so, in addition to being Miss BKV 2006. Reports in Blikk and at Velvet.hu yesterday already spoke of how Hajdú had to be asked to leave the shoot due to his constant outbursts.

Last night on entertainment show "Aktiv" on TV2, behind-the-scenes footage of the photo shoot was shown, in which Hajdú was shown storming around the set and arguing with CKM editor-in-chief Péter Pantl.The only problem with this is that the acting on their part was so bad, that it's about as convincing as Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf 's reports of American defeats during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. At least al-Sahhaf was amusing.

The entire episode reeks of a PR stunt meant to drive up sales of the issue, which chances are it will, but the manner in which it was undertaken is what makes it so lame. Hajdú is in no position to protest that he didn't realize the magazine would get as revealing shots of his fiancé as they did. Advertisements all over Budapest for last month's issue featuring Linda Zimány (NSFW) had a giant banner exclaiming "We undressed her!"

A person with two cooperating brain cells would be able to deduce the magazine would attempt to get every woman posing for them to do the same. Sarka's going in front of the CKM cameras and being asked to show some skin is equivalent to agreeing to an interview with The Economist and then being asked to say something intelligent.

Bizarrely enough, by forcing the withdrawal of the publication, Hajdú is limiting Sarka's self-expression, as nowhere in the articles did it state that Sarka herself objected to the photographs. And while people can argue whether or not it's a feminist statement to walk around with one's breasts half exposed if its their decision to do so, Sarka made the decision to pose in the lad mag herself. If Hajdú was so against her posing, he should have just told her "Honey, if you love me, you won't pose for the lad mags."

It remains to be seen if this lame PR stunt achieves what it is intended to, although one thing is for certain: Hajdú has already earned the enmity not only of CKM readers, but also an international audience who only care about downloading pictures of Sarka from the internet, even if they never discover just who the hell she or her fiancé are.