When Justin Bieber’s Baby was still at its peak popularity in 2011, Two student council members of Evanston Township Highschool saw a bizarre opportunity for a fundraising campaign for a nearby cafe and arts center. In less than a week, students have raised $1,000 with the aid of Justin Bieber’s hit song.
Charlotte Runzel and Jesse Chatz, seniors of Evanston Township High school in Chicago, got the fundraising campaign idea to play Justin Bieber’s Baby nonstop in between classes until their fellow students paid enough to make them stop. Within 3 days, they’ve reached their $1,000 goal.
The Not-Too-Annoying Bieber Song
Bieber’s Baby, one of the most famous songs in his discography, peaked in popularity during the early 2010s. With that said, two students from an Illinois high school saw Baby‘s popularity as an opportunity for an uncommon fundraising campaign.
The story starts with Evanston Township Highschool’s student council seniors, Charlotte Runzel and Jesse Chatz. Needing to brainstorm a hasty way to earn funds to save Boocoo Cultural Center and Cafe, an arts center near their school, the two students thought it would be a great idea to use Justin Bieber’s Baby to torment their schoolmate’s ears. As much as Baby was well-loved by many, many people also hated it, making it the perfect song for their fundraiser.
As student council, we decided that would be the most annoying without being over the top. I could pick out more annoying songs, but I think that’s right at the limit of annoying and not too annoying.
Jesse Chatz
Runzel and Chatz’s fundraiser plan was playing Bieber’s Baby over the intercom between classes until their students paid or donated enough money for them to stop playing it. The two student council members asked permission from Evanston Township’s administrators, and with their earned consent, they followed through with their plan. (Source: ABC News)
The Stop the Bieber campaign began on Monday, with the song repeated eight times a day when there were no classes. In total, the iconic song repeated 20-something times, with Bieber singing the word Baby more than 50 times. Not long after, Bieber’s Baby did its job of forcing students to contribute to the fundraiser in a short amount of time. (Source: HuffPost)
The Stop the Bieber’s Success Story
While Runzel and Chatz thought they needed a whole week to hit their target amount of $1,000, they already achieved their goal on the third day of playing Baby. And although the school received numerous complaints about the annoyingly repeated hit song, they only responded by encouraging the students to donate money if they wanted it to stop. (Source: HuffPost)
Alicia Hempfling, Boocoo Cultural Center and Cafe’s administrator told the Chicago Sun-Times her deep gratitude towards the helping students. (Source: Chicago Sun-Times)
People who work here are just incredibly moved by the fact that these kids came to us and wanted to help out
Alicia Hempfling
To repay the school’s efforts, Boocoo Cultural Center and Cafe will use the hard-earned money to provide performance spaces for Evanston’s students for their senior presentations. (Source: HuffPost)