Baby, Baby, Stop: School Uses Justin Bieber Music to Force Charity Donations

Two students at a high school in Illinois have found a unique way to raise money for a charity this holiday season: by torturing their classmates with Justin Bieber.

Bieber’s pop-teen voice and song lyrics, usually used to raise money because they are so adored, were, in this case, used because the two students figured they would be so hated.

That big Bieber bet was placed by Evanston Township High School seniors Charlotte Runzel and Jesse Chatz. They needed a quick way to raise big money to save a struggling cafe and arts center down the street from the school.

Runzel and Chatz talked administrators at their Chicago-area school into letting them play Bieber’s hit song “Baby” over the intercom — repeatedly, throughout the school day, until their fellow students donated enough to reach the fundraiser’s $1,000 goal.

They estimated they would need one week of Bieber-dom to hit the target. The campaign, called “Stop the Bieber,” began on Monday.

Bieber’s “Baby” was played eight times a day over the school’s intercom between classes.

By Wednesday, they had raised the $1,000 and were able to turn the music off, reports TribLocal, the Evanston edition of the Chicago Tribune.

“As student council, we decided that would be the most annoying without being over the top,” Chatz told the paper when asked why they chose to inflict Bieber on their classmates. “I could pick out more annoying songs, but I think that’s right at the limit of annoying and not too annoying.”

The administrator of Boocoo, the nonprofit cafe that is now the beneficiary of the school’s largesse (or annoyance at Bieber), said she and the staff were “incredibly moved” by the gesture.  The cafe has also pledged to provide free space for artistic presentations by Evanston students.

While Bieber did not make an appearance during the “Stop the Bieber” campaign, and has yet to acknowledge the stunt, the school had even more fun on his behalf.

After the students reached their goal Wednesday afternoon, some faculty and staff performed a “flash mob” song and dance routine in front of the school’s main office, choreographed, of course, to “Baby.”