"Bread & circuses" (or bread & games; from Latin: panem et circenses) is a metonymic phrase referring to superficial appeasement. It is attributed to Juvenal, a Roman poet active in the late 1st & early 2nd century CE ? & is used commonly in cultural, particularly political, contexts.
In a political context, the phrase means to generate public approval, not by excellence in public service or public policy, but by diversion, distraction or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace ? by offering a palliative: for example food (bread) or entertainment (circuses).
Juvenal, who originated the phrase, used it to decry the "selfishness" of common people & their neglect of wider concerns. The phrase implies a population's erosion or ignorance of civic duty as a priority.