History Main / BribeBackfire

* When the British government wanted to eradicate cobras in India, they started paying a bounty for every dead cobra...which caused people to begin to breed cobras in order to kill them and get the money. When the British realised this, they stopped the bounty, so the backyard cobra breeders just released them all.

-->'''Mr. Macbeth''': …This money ain't even yours, kid. ''(fires unavoidable precision-laser attack, killing Henry)''\\

--> '''James Lancelot''', ''[[VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries Stealing the Diamond]]''

->''"Bribery is a federal offense sir!"'' (''Shoots Henry'')
--> '''Rupert Price''' if ''Bribe'' option is chosen, ''[[VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries Stealing the Diamond]]''

--> '''Security officer''' if Bribe option is chosen, ''[[VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries Stealing the Diamond]]''

[[caption-width-right:350:Gosh, what a sticky situation you're in! Oh, if only you could just [[BuyThemOff buy your way out of this situation]]...]]

* ''[[VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries Stealing The Diamond]]'': At the final point of the aggressive route, Henry can attempt to bribe the police after him with a cut of the diamond. Unfortunately for him, they tell him that bribery is a federal offense and [[BoomHeadshot put a bullet in his head]].

--> Security officer if Bribe option is chosen, ''[[VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries Stealing the Diamond]]''

Gosh, what a sticky situation you're in! Oh, if only you could just [[BuyThemOff buy your way out of this situation]]...

* There are certain countries where bribing is accepted and places where bribery is unacceptable.
** In America, pretty much nobody can be bribed. Not only is there an enormous stigma against corruption, but even offering a corrupt bargain is a serious crime in and of itself. If an American anything can be bribed, it's normally with something other than money, and even then, the odds of getting away with it are pretty abysmal.
** Must of Western Europe is pretty similar. Pretty much anywhere they pay civil servants well will make bribery pretty much impossible. Don't even try. It won't end well.

* In ''Film/TheUntouchables'' a corrupt alderman tries to bribe Eliot Ness on behalf of Al Capone. The alderman suffers no personal consequences but he does incur a classic scolding from Ness (in front of Ness's team), including the splendid line "In Roman times, when a fellow was convicted of trying to bribe a public official, they would cut off his nose, and sew him in a bag with a wild animal, and throw him in a river," and has the bribe tossed back at him.

* Subverted in ''Film/TheLastBoyScout'', where a Senator rejects the villain's attempts to bribe him to vote for a bill legalizing sports gambling and threatens to go to the police... because the bribe wasn't big enough. The villain decides it'd just be cheaper to kill the senator.

* ''Film/NothingButTrouble'': Thorne (and later on a bunch of asshole yuppies) try to bribe their way off being arrested in Valkenvania... the problem is that the J.P. is not only a HangingJudge but also a man who hates (and that is ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enUo-1TjdEs murderously]]'' loathes) rich people ("bankers!"). The only time a bribe works, it's because the deputy was already deciding to do a "ScrewThisImOuttaHere" and the implied job offer sounded interesting.
* In ''Film/{{Solo}}'', Han and his girlfriend Qi'ra try to escape Corellia ahead of the crime boss chasing them by bribing a customs official with a vial of hyperfuel. However, when she spots their pursuers she closes the door after Han and calls security, leaving Qi'ra to get caught.

* When a lawyer advises a client against bribing the judge and states said judge was too honest for that, the client sent the bribe and tricked the judge into thinking it came from the other side.

That hasn't stopped Chrysoprase, a mobster troll, from lending Vimes a coat while meeting him in a chilled warehouse so Vimes doesn't freeze. Vimes doesn't even think about the coat, but as he leaves the mobster mentions he hopes Sam's wife will enjoy the coat as well. Vimes, realizing what has happened, tells one of his men to destroy the coat with his [[{{BFG}} Piecemaker]]. Considering that Chrysoprase is a MagnificentBastard, he was probably hoping that people would see the incorruptible Commander of the Watch walking out of the meeting with a known criminal wearing a very expensive fur coat since it could seriously damage his reputation.
** An earlier case described the palace guards as unbribable, only because the [[MagnificentBastard Patrician]] could outbid anyone. In ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'' we hear that the official procedure for palace guards when someone tries to bribe their way into the palace is to accept the bribe and take the subject to the waiting room. And then bolt all the doors.

* It's not seen attempted but the guards of the Grey Fortress (the prison used for the most powerful political prisoners) in the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series are considered absolutely immune to bribery. It's the law that if a guard is offered a bribe and reports it, TheEmpire will reward him with a bonus three times the size of the attempted bribe.

* Sort of inverted in the ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|Legends}}'' novel ''I, Jedi''. Corran Horn is trying to sneak onto Corellia, where there's still a warrant out for his arrest. So he talks a pair of tourists into trying to bribe their way past the customs official. However, the tourists [[RedHerring bribe too heavily]] and attract every customs official in the place, who all want a piece of the action. Which is exactly what Corran was counting on. The customs officials are so distracted by the tourists that they wave Corran through without notice.

* Because Literature/NeroWolfe has expensive tastes and charges high fees for his services, many ne'er-do-wells throughout the series have gotten it into their heads that they can get him to back off from investigating their wrongdoing if they offer him a bribe, often disguised as an offer for employment. What they fail to realise is that Wolfe, despite his mercenary reputation, actually has an iron-rigid code of honor coupled with a massive ego that means that he's not just going to accept a bribe in order to get out of a commitment he's made to someone. He does acknowledge that, like practically everyone, he does in fact have a price -- however, the aforementioned "massive ego" means that it's a price that's out of reach to almost everyone.
-->'''Nero Wolfe:''' The emerald was not a token of gratitude for anything I had done; it was a bribe to keep my mouth shut. Had it measured up to my conceit -- had it been the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koh-i-Noor Kohinoor]] or the Zabara -- it might have served its purpose; but it is merely a rather large emerald with a noticeable flaw. So naturally I was piqued.

* On ''Series/AnimalKingdom'', J's college girlfriend finds out that his family are criminals and (correctly) suspects that they robbed a charity event her mother helped run. She tries to blackmail J into doing all of her class assignments for the rest of the semester. J realizes that she has no real evidence so he simply turns her in to his professor and she is punished for academic honor code violation. When she confronts him about this, he points out that he was actually being nice to her and if she persists, he will have to take actions that are not nice.

* ''Literature/TheBible'': [[Literature/BookOfProverbs Proverbs 6:35]] says that a husband who is wronged by another man committing adultery with his wife will not be appeased even if the other man gives many gifts.

* ''[[VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries Stealing The Diamond]]'': At the final point of the aggressive route Henry can attempt to bribe the police after him with a cut of the diamond. Unfortunately for him, they tell him that bribery is a federal offense and [[BoomHeadshot put a bullet in his head]].

'''Heck:''' Not gonna lie, buddy, I was really tempted for a minute there... But I kind of like you, so I told him to piss off. Then I set him on fire to make sure he got the point.

* In ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity'' there is a quest where you can solve the murder of a small boy in the docks and confront the dockyard thug who murdered him. He will offer you a shiny, valuable topaz for your silence. You may accept the bribe and then kill him and all his goons regardless, with no effect on your reputation. [[ExactWords After all, he offered the bribe only so you would stay quiet about the crime - he didn't say anything about also sparing his life.]]
* In ''[[VideoGame/TheClassroomTrilogy The Classroom 2]]'' there is a level where a student [=NPC=] tries to bribe a teacher. It just makes her mad and she treaten in front of the class to ''shoot him'' if any other student try to do the same thing.

** Mocked when Homer probably would have wanted to bribe Officer Wiggum but is too dumb to see the obvious clues that Wiggum ''wants'' to be bribed.

* When doing a lot of travelling, keep in mind some police forces are more lawful than others so that where sometimes a bribe would be like paying the fine right there, in others it will probably get you jailed on the spot. More to the point, you have honest individuals even in otherwise corrupt organisations. So, don't offer bribes at all. This is especially true for Westerners travelling in non-Western countries, who often presume that every official they meet is expecting a bribe (a stereotype that only makes things worse for the would-be briber if the official takes offense at the implied insult to his culture).

* Back when Senate Majority leader Harry Reid was merely head of the Nevada Gaming Commission, he helped the FBI videotape Jack Gordon offering him a $12,000 bribe. According to newspaper accounts, the arrest was interrupted when he tried to strangle Gordon, saying "You son of a bitch, you tried to bribe me!" -- and had to be pulled off by the alarmed (but amused) FBI agents.

* Losing money to an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam advance-fee scam]], also known as a 419 scam, is a different sort of Bribe Backfire. In most cases, the scammer's stated reason for needing money up front is to bribe officials or bankers so as to gain access to a much larger sum. Of course there is no bribe and no larger sum; they just keep it. If they think the mark is gullible enough to milk, they might claim to have fallen victim to a more classical Bribe Backfire as an excuse for more money.
* When the British government wanted to eradicate cobras in India, they started paying a bounty for every dead cobra...which caused people to begin to breed cobras in order to kill them and get the money. When the British realised this they stopped the bounty, so the backyard cobra breeders just released them all.

** An earlier case described the palace guards as unbribable, only because the [[MagnificentBastard Patrician]] could outbid anyone. In ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'' we hear that the official procedure for palace guards when someone tries to bribe their way into the palace is to accept the bribe and take the subject to the waiting room. And then bolt all the doors.

* A rather bleakly humorous version is mentioned in Creator/JohnLeCarre's ''[[Literature/TheQuestForKarla Smiley's People]]''. A CIA station in Switzerland tried to bribe a local professor so that they could run wires through his property to bug the Soviet embassy. The professor took the money and [[LawfulNeutral promptly reported everything to the local police]], who were embarrassed no end. Turns out the CIA had already talked to them, and they were looking forward to their promised portion of the intelligence gathered.

* ''Film/BuffaloSoldiers'': Pvt. Elwood, a corrupt drug brewer on an American army base in Germany, tries to bribe his new hardass superior Sgt. Lee by offering him a brand new television set. Lee responds to his offer by kicking in the screen.

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/{{Freefall}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bribe.PNG]]]]
%%[[caption-width-right:350:]]

** Backfires big time on Bart in an episode where he gets a job for Fat Tony. Bart tries to bribe Skinner when caught spraying graffiti, Skinner keeps Bart after school, Bart vents to Fat Tony, and later Skinner suddenly disappears. Even though it turns out Fat Tony had absolutely nothing to do with the disappearance, it almost gets Bart convicted of First Degree Murder.

* ''Film/TheHighwaymen'': Invoked by Hamer and Gault in order to weed out potentially corrupt cops by pretending to be offering a Louisiana Sheriff a bribe. When the Sheriff tells him to get the hell out of his county for attempting to corrupt an officer of the law, they know they can rely on him.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bribe.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Webcomic/{{Freefall}}]]

[[folder:Comics]]

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Film/Titanic1997'', Cal notices the rule "Women and children first" is strictly applied, so he tries to escape the sinking ship by putting a large amount of cash in officer Murdoch's pocket to ensure a spot in a lifeboat. But when Cal and Murdoch are both at the last lifeboat and Cal reminds Murdoch of their "deal", Murdoch throws the money back in Cal's face.

* In ''Film/{{Solo}}'' Han and his girlfriend Qi'ra try to escape Corellia ahead of the crime boss chasing them by bribing a customs official with a vial of hyperfuel. However, when she spots their pursuers she closes the door after Han and calls security, leaving Qi'ra to get caught.

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

[[folder:Magazines]]

[[folder:Religion]]
* ''Literature/TheBible'': [[Literature/BookOfProverbs Proverbs 6:35]] says that a husband who is wronged by another man committing adultery with his wife will not be appeased even if the other man gives many gifts.

[[folder:TabletopGames]]
* The rules in ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' spell it out as clear as it gets: "Bribery is treason. Bribery in insufficient amounts will be reported as treason."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', the Fighters Guild and Thieves Guild have a clandestine war going on between them. This is because [[spoiler:the leader of the Fighters Guild and a couple of his top lieutenants are in the pocket of the [[TheSyndicate Camonna Tong]], Morrowind's native {{Mafia}} who are rivals to the Thieves Guild]]. One Thieves Guild quest has you using a certain artifact to bribe one of those lieutenants into switching sides, which works. However, if you then complete the Fighters Guild quest line (which has you dealing with the leader and his lieutenants in a different way), she will still see you as a threat and attack.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

[[folder:RealLife]]

[[/folder]]

->'''Kidnapper Wife:''' You know, the base commander might join us for a cut of the forty million.\\
'''Kidnapper Husband:''' You think we're in trouble now? Go ahead and make him that offer.
-->-- ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}''

* ''{{VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries Stealing The Diamond}}'': At the final point of the aggressive route Henry can attempt to bribe the police after him with a cut of the diamond. Unfortunately for him, they tell him that bribery is a federal offense and [[BoomHeadshot put a bullet in his head]].