A word to make something bad sound good

Lets say we are talking about a book about teens that drink. In the book, the teens have fun and nothing bad ever happens. It's disguising it as a good thing, it's supporting it and it's making it sound good.

What word would you use to describe what the book is doing to teen drinking?

Solution 1:

The term glorify means

Describe or represent as admirable, especially unjustifiably or undeservedly: a football video glorifying violence [Oxford Dictionaries Online]

Solution 2:

Sugarcoating is one possibility -- if the book is "sugar-coating" teenage drinking, it is taking something negative and adding a superficial positive sheen. Merriam-Webster:

to talk about or describe (something) in a way that makes it seem more pleasant or acceptable than it is

Glamorizing is another -- to glamorize is to take something that is neutral, or maybe negative, and imbue it with more of a glamorous aspect than it might deserve. Oxford:

Make (something) seem glamorous or desirable, especially spuriously so

I think either of the above would convey your meaning in this context.

Solution 3:

Here are some possibilities:

• justifying
• excusing
• promoting
• rationalizing
• papering over
• glossing over
• condoning
• whitewashing

I think whitewashing is probably the best choice.