Welcome to the advertising industry. You'd be surprised what goes on when media buyers control so much money. There are 20 year old planners with control of 7+ figure budgets for major brands - you can bet they're getting plenty of gifts.

5k+ per person would be bribery. I hope he meant 5k in total..., 1000 gifts of 5$ would be ok

I'm sure he meant what he said. Do the math. He was trying to point out that it would cost the same either way. But if you give the mark the money, it would have a much greater effect than 5k on silly web adds.

what about a $5k rebate or discount?

Difficult to say. My mental framing has, as a result of my previous post, become “be suspicious”.

That honestly sounds borderline mafia or cartel style... "We're going to bribe you, you're going to take it, and since we all know it's illegal, you're on the hook with us all. Welcome to the game kid."

If I’m ever in a position to be worth anyone trying to bribe me, I’ll try to make sure nobody is in a position to threaten me like that.

Fortunately for me, I don’t control any budgets.