If your mouth has been watering in anticipation of a free sample of McDonald's Real Fruit Smoothie, which the company was planning to offer July 22 through 24, you'll have to suffer without for a little while longer. The company announced late yesterday that it is delaying, or perhaps even canceling, the promotion to make sure it has adequate supplies to meet the anticipated demand.

"The McCafé Real Fruit Smoothies are an absolute hit with our customers and we're experiencing unprecedented demand for this delicious new choice on our menu," said Neil Golden, Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald's USA in a press release.

In the carefully worded release, the company said it is "reviewing the potential of rescheduling the national in-restaurant Smoothie sampling event for a later date." Note that there is no promise here that it will reschedule -- and why should it, if the drinks are already the hit that it claims they are? And after the fiasco that KFC suffered when it failed to honor a freebie offer that went viral, McDonald's trepidation seems reasonable.

The company is continuing to honor other promotions including coupons, at "participating restaurants." If you want more info, you can call McDonald's at 1-800-244-6227.