CINCINNATI (AP) — Procter & Gamble Co., a pioneer in television soap operas, is on the cutting edge of a trend of blending commercial messages with programming in a new TV reality show featuring Gillette.An ABC summer series that made its debut last night had celebrities including actor William Shatner, singer Jewel and skateboarder Tony Hawk learning stock-car racing from Gillette-sponsored NASCAR drivers. And the promotion goes beyond commercials — Gillette not only helped conceive and create the show, its presence runs throughout, from the show’s title to logos on drivers’ firesuits and cars.

“The creative concept and the brand are intertwined,” said Steve Fund, global business director for Gillette, the Boston-based company known for its shavers that P&G acquired in 2005. “Really, the show is the ad.”

With ever-increasing entertainment choices and TV viewers’ ability to skip commercials, networks and advertisers have been exploring different ways to make televised product promotions, including weaving them into TV programmes themselves. In another wrinkle, ABC plans a comedy series called “Cavemen”, derived from the Geico insurance commercials about modern-day cavemen miffed by the company’s ads. ABC is owned by Walt Disney Co., and Geico is a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

“The standard 50-year-old advertising model that P&G almost invented doesn’t work nearly as well anymore,” said Leonard Lodish, a Wharton School of Business marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania. “There’s a lot of variability in how that works.”

Lodish, who has researched and written about television advertising, said TV promotion is being transformed, from product placement to incorporating companies into shows such as NBC’s “The Apprentice” reality series, in which competitors’ tasks revolved around sponsors such as Burger King and The Home Depot. NBC is owned by General Electric Co.

“It’s pretty interesting that they even let stuff like that on TV,” Lodish said of the race show. “It really does have Gillette all over it.”

He said the trend could start turning off views as the commercialising becomes more obvious. “I think consumers are becoming a little more sceptical as they understand what’s going on,” Lodish said.

P&G, which backed the daytime TV serials dubbed “soap operas” starting in the 1950s, also has brands featured on cable’s The Learning Channel in “Home Made Simple”, from P&G’s home living tips newsletter and online site.

Gillette and the BBDO advertising agency worked together to develop the series, titled “Fast Cars and Superstars — the Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race”, produced by New York-based Radical Media. The show has other sponsors whose logos will appear on cars during the seven-show series.

“It’s a really tricky thing to make work,” Fund said. “It can’t feel commercialised and forced.”

He said a NASCAR-themed show lends itself well because sponsor branding has long been so embedded into the fast-growing sport.

Gillette also is doing promotions to specific audiences it expects to draw for the celebrities, such as skateboarding fans for Hawk and surfing enthusiasts for Laird Hamilton.

Fund said the 12 celebrities were strategically selected for wide appeal.

“I think it’s a good step in the right direction,” said Ryan Martin, one of the six “Young Guns” drivers.

He said the celebrities can help draw new fans to NASCAR. “It’s neat to have them talk about what we do.”

Fund said besides fan appeal, the show wanted drivers who were highly competitive. Former NFL quarterback John Elway and tennis star Serena Williams were among others who competed in a time-trial finale filmed at Lowe’s Motor Speedway near Charlotte, North Carolina.

Shatner, who likes driving fast cars and motorcycles at age 76, said he jumped at the chance to experience the thrill of stock-car racing, even if he was at a disadvantage against what he called some of the world’s premier athletes.

“Their hand-eye coordination by necessity had to be superior,” Shatner told reporters. “So I had to compete in some way. ... I think nerve or stupidity; yes, stupidity was my best weapon.”