Well, if your model of company behavior is the Gervais principle (imho a great model) aren't you conceding that it's not a meritocracy?
>>> I'm not even sure what you mean by this. How would a promotion reflect poorly on someone?
For a real life example, I have a friend, let's call him Justin, who's an incredibly efficient engineer, and this is known. But he won't get promoted because of a few obnoxious traits (outed as a Trump supporter, got drunk at the office a few times, liked to place bets on video games at the office).
I don't think his manager will promote him, because he worries if he promotes Justin, then Justin gets fallover drunk and has to be fired, then somehow it'll look like a mistake to have promoted him in the first place... Super-political (i.e. concerned with appearance over reality)