It all began a few years ago when Valtteri Bottas, current Alfa Romeo Formula 1 driver, posted a photo of his naked bum on Instagram. He was lying in a river outside of Aspen, Colorado airing out his derrière. With a noticeably large reaction, his photo went viral with multiple other drivers even making jokes and sharing the post. Being quite cheeky, Bottas shared another nude photo cementing him in the meme world as Valterri “Bottass”.
Fast forward to fall 2023, Bottas shared the news that he was releasing a full calendar of photos. Intrigued, to say the least, I had to check it out. Much to my astonishment, it was not only real but was only $32 with international shipping as the calendars would be shipping out of Germany. I ordered two for some friends as Christmas presents. Obviously, this calendar is meant to be a bit of a joke, but what I loved the most was that the profits, or at least a portion of them were going to charity. Taking something fun and converting it into a cause is awesome. Due to the release in November, $5 from each calendar would be going to the charity Movemeber. Movember is an amazing charity focusing on Men’s mental health as well as Prostate and Testicular Cancer prevention. A commendable reason to share pictures of your ass to the world.
If you weren’t on board yet, the craziest part of all of this is that the calendars sold out with insane figures. Roughly 30,000 calendars were sold raising around $150,000 for the charity. I can only hope that there is another wave in 2024, as this calendar is deserving of cult status. Taking a goofy photo and turning it into a mega self-branding exercise with 6-figure charity donations is not an easy task. I’m sure this wasn’t the plan from the beginning, but I’m glad it happened. In a world where most of our news is about something horrible happening, it’s refreshing to see someone of Valtteri’s caliber not taking himself so seriously and focusing on the good that can come from things. I will be buying another calendar if he decides to make more in the future, however, don’t expect The Late Brake to be releasing one anytime soon.
The Late Brake 
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