Learn English – Looking for a verb that would be the opposite of smear, from a political/public relations point of view

single-word-requests

I'm looking for a single word that would mean the opposite of smear. Specifically, I'm looking for it in the context of a verb being an action that an entity has at his disposal. So you might have a dirty snook who has "Smear 4", or the ability to lower someone's public relations rating by 4 points. If you were the victim of a "Smear 4" you would need to hire your own consultant with "Unsmear 4" to get your public relations back to where they were before the smear campaign was run against you. Clearly, "Unsmear" is not a viable term. I've reviewed a number of thesauruses, but nothing really jumps out at me. The closest I've found is either flatter or glorify, but neither convey what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something that evokes images of kissing babies, attending ice cream socials, and other typical PR boosting stuff.

Best Answer

The term hype is often used to play up or enhance a reputation. According to Cambridge

to make something seem more exciting or important than it is

Three additional definitions from American Heritage say

Excessive publicity and the ensuing commotion: the hype surrounding the murder trial.

Exaggerated or extravagant claims made especially in advertising or promotional material: "It is pure hype, a gigantic PR job" (Saturday Review).

An advertising or promotional ploy: "Some restaurant owners in town are cooking up a $75,000 hype to promote New York as 'Restaurant City, U.S.A.'" (New York).

This is not unsmear but a concept of promoting.

Another aspect of countering a smear would be a rebuttal. Again Cambridge

a statement which says that something is not true; She issued a point-by-point rebuttal of the company's accusations.

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