Association fallacy

The association fallacy is a formal fallacy in which it is assumed that if a concept, whether physical or abstract, has certain properties, any other concept belonging to the same group as the first must also share these properties.

When it is an attempt to win favor by exploiting the audience's preexisting spite or disdain for something else, it is called guilt by association or an appeal to spite (Latin: argumentum ad odium). Guilt by association can be a component of ad hominem arguments which attack the speaker rather than addressing the claims, but they are a distinct class of fallacious argument, and both are able to exist independently of the other.