Sex and the Lion City

Desmond N-Fri, Oct 31, 2008-The New Paper

ONCE again, we've made it to the cover of an international magazine.

But this time, it's unlikely that there'll be any back-patting or champagne popping by the authorities.

Reason: The publicity this time around is quite unwanted.

A picture of our wonderful city skyline has appeared in an erotic adult online magazine called Watch For Beauty - along with a nude model in the foreground.

The headline on the front page - Passion in Singapore - should give you an indication of what lies inside.

One particular picture has the model, almost naked, posing on a hotel room's balcony here.

We could clearly see the Singapore Flyer, Suntec City and Marina hotels behind her in the night skyline.

The undated picture looks genuine and while the shoot's location is not mentioned, from the angle of the picture, the hotel could be Swissotel The Stamford. The pictures appeared in the magazine's 31 May issue this year.

The model, named Verunka, is from Czech Republic, according to the website.

And her stats on the website say that she's 21 years old and 1.7m tall.

The online magazine charges a subscription fee. Based in Prague, Watch For Beauty describes itself as an erotic art magazine which 'shows you natural women nudity in its whole beauty'.

Pictures of nude women and movies are uploaded once every two days and the magazine claims it focuses only on 'erotic art photos'.

When contacted, Swissotel The Stamford said it is neither aware of nor has it seen this particular publication.

Director of marketing communications Ms Belladonnah Lim said: 'We would like to clarify that photo shoot requests, which are intended for adult publications, will neither be granted permission nor clearance here at Swissotel The Stamford.'

Frequent requests

She said the hotel receives frequent requests from local and international media to conduct media shoots within its premises either for print or broadcast purposes.

And all requests are stringently screened to ensure that whatever is approved is in line with its corporate and branding guidelines.

In this case, the nature and means of the publicity do not fall within its acceptable standards, said the hotel.

Added Ms Lim: 'Nonetheless, we do not wish to deny the fact that activities happening within the confines of guests' rooms and suites synonymous with any hotels is something that we do not have control of.

'It is very possible that guests may take photos within our rooms, without our knowledge and clearance.

'They may easily make it appear as if it is an officially endorsed photo shoot by giving a location credit. This can especially be true if the publication is of foreign origin as tracking of such media impression is difficult.'

Lawyers whom The New Paper spoke to said that it's unlikely that the publisher, the model or photographer have broken any laws here.

This is because those pictures were not taken in a public area, the model wasn't causing any public nuisance and the hotel wasn't portrayed in a negative light, they said.

Lawyer A P Thirumurthy added: 'If there was no mention of the hotel and it also doesn't look like the hotel has been portrayed in a bad light, then where's the offence?

'But if the hotel's reputation has been harmed, then this could be a possible defamation case.'

This story was first published in The New Paper on 29 October 2008.