Alter database row from Helper or Component - which ist better?

I am working with CakePHP for quite a while and think that I have a pretty good understanding of the mvc-principle. But today, I encountered a little problem that I do not now how to solve while sticking with mvc.

In my database, there is a table for variations of my views. It works a lot like A/B-testing. When my view is shown, I need to select one of the variations saved in the database.

So in my view, there needs to be something like this:

<?php
    $variant = $this->Helper->getVariant();

    switch($variant) {
        case 'a':
            echo "some link or content";
            break;
        case 'b':
            echo "some other content";
            break;
    }
?>

But by accessing getVariant(), the chosen variant has to be updated in the database, the number of views has to be updated. This is why I do not want to have getVariant() in the Controller, because it must only be run when the View actually needs it. Because the logic (Controller) and the display (view) are separated, I can not determine in the controller if the getVariant() is needed or not. What to do?

Create an action in your controller that will updates the database. Then use Ajax in your view to call that function without refreshing or altering the page.