Discrediting

Discrediting is to cause (an idea or account) to seem false, unworthy, or unreliable. It works in league with credentialism, and plays on the fact that the average human epistemology relies somewhat, and especially socially, on credulity.Discrediting often makes uses of a fallacious appeal to authority, but that it is often observed to work to forward a fallacy to discredit someone. See: Sophistry; Credulity 
See particularly: Propaganda; Marketing