Smear campaign

A smear campaign, smear tactic or simply smear is a negative political tactic that launches an unfair or untrue political attack on an opposing candidate in order to undermine their political position and sway the opinions of the voters and gain support. It employs the logical technique of conflation in which separate concepts, identities, or reputations of individual or groups are combined into one word or concept, losing individual meanings and differences as in swiftboating. Sometimes the use of the term "smear campaign" is used more generally to include any organized reputation-damaging activity by a group.