Mars is offering free chocolate on Fridays till the end of September, but already on its first day, the website that offers the coupons was down following the massive flood of traffic.

The company said it will give away 250,000 full-value coupons each Friday from today at 9 a.m. EST by visiting RealChocolate.com.

Coupons, which will be mailed to consumers, will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis and are redeemable for any full-size Mars real chocolate product.

The coupons will be limited to one per person, per week.

Considering the publicity that a free event like this would draw, it’s a wonder the company did not prepare its site for the expected spike in traffic.

Marketing Mars