They did it in November 1983, with the original Mac. An all-day shoot was done in our Computer store showing a couple buying an Original Mac.
The shoot was during normal business hours, so the glass windows and doors were papered-over so no one could see in. The doors were locked, so Customers were met outside, by our employees, for any necessary business transactions: (sales, questions, repairs, etc.). Response from the "locked-out" customers was very positive (vicarious excitement to be aware that an exciting new product was coming?).
Store employees were used as background extras (sales people, customers, clerks). Scenes showed:
-- a young couple entering the store
-- couple given a demo of the Mac
-- couple purchasing Mac at front counter
-- salesman putting Mac into Mac Bag
-- couple leaving store with Mac Bag
These were shot over and over from several angles, with different lighting, background, etc.
AIR, there were 2 Mac computers present, 3 paid actors, about 10 people in the film crew and one "creative" fron Chiat Day.
The product of the shoot was several 5-10 second shots in some 30-60 second ads.
The environment was pretty controlled, but all employees present (about 15) got to see the Mac. I got to play with MacDraw for about 15 minutes.
So, YES WAY Apple has put a new, revolutionary product in a controlled public environment.
Apple has done it before with a Steve Jobs product!
The only downside, was that the ad was shot almost 2 months before the Mac was announced... Hopefully the computers and software available today can reduce the time to a few days or weeks!