Snickers Will Give Away 1 Million Free Candy Bars if the Date of Halloween Is Changed

One million Snickers bars -- given away for free -- sounds like a chocolatey pipe dream. But it turns out that dream may actually materialize, thanks to a pledge by Mars Inc., the American candy company that owns Snickers...

One million Snickers bars -- given away for free -- sounds like a chocolatey pipe dream. But it turns out that dream may actually materialize, thanks to a pledge by Mars Inc., the American candy company that owns Snickers.

So, uh, what's the catch? Changing the date of Halloween. 

Halloween traditionally falls on October 31, but a growing Change.org petition is demanding the federal government to change the date of the spookiest day of the year to the last Saturday of October instead. The petition, started by the Halloween & Costume Association, cites safety concerns about nighttime trick-or-treating and sees the change as an opportunity to make Halloween celebrations last all day -- rather than crammed into a weeknight evening. It's not the first time this petition has been promoted.

"Snickers is all in on celebration Halloween to the fullest," Josh Olken, Snickers's brand director, stated in a press release. "If the federal government makes this thing official, we're offering up to one million free Snickers to America. No tricks, only treats."

As of this writing on Monday, the petition has already garnered over 102,000 supporters. We don't know if it will inevitably sway the government to make changes, but we do know that we could really use a million free Snickers, arguably one of the best Halloween candies of all time. 

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Kat Thompson is a staff writer at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter @katthompsonn