The celebrity solution

Sean (P. Diddy) Combs had pimples. Not surprisingly, he went to a top-notch specialist, and this person recommended an acne-fighting product called Proactiv Solution, which is probably best known in the context of infomercials. Combs was appalled: ''You want me to use, on my face, something from an infomercial?'' This, at least, is the story that Combs himself tells . . . in the latest infomercial for Proactiv Solution. June marks the 10th year that Proactiv infomercials have been on the air, and the current 30-minute version has a more star-studded lineup than most talk shows. In addition to Combs, there are Jessica Simpson and Alicia Keys. The host is Vanessa Williams.

Perhaps many of us remain as skeptical of products peddled in paid programming that runs late at night as P. Diddy used to be, but apparently not all of us. The Proactiv infomercial that he's in also announces that the stuff is the ''best-selling acne system in America.'' The company that sells Proactiv, Guthy-Renker, claims annual revenue of more than $1 billion, all from products sold this way (from Marilu Henner's weight-loss program to Tony Robbins's motivational tapes). Advertising Age has credited Guthy-Renker's well-crafted productions as an example of ''branded entertainment.''

It still seems a little startling that a celebrity with Combs's or Keys's wattage would venture into the form. But Karen Barner, senior vice president for marketing at Guthy-Renker, says that ''the stigma of the infomercial industry has waned quite drastically in the last 20 years.'' She also calls Guthy-Renker's infomercials ''shows.''

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