Bread and circuses

Bread and circuses is an expression meaning offering people food and entertainment to distract them from important things such as politics. In other words, it is a way to keep people happy and distracted from unpleasant realities. It's like when adults give children candy or a new toy when they are upset about something. The adults won't make the child's problem go away, but the candy or toy will make them smile and forget about it for a while. Bread and circuses work in the same way - to make people distracted and happy but not actually helping the real problem.