Anyone who has paid attention to the news in the last week should be aware of the ongoing protests and unrest in Egypt. Spurred on by a popular revolt in Tunisia, Egyptians have taken to the streets to demand the resignation of long-time president Hosni Mubarak. The demonstrations in Cairo and Alexandria have been violent at times, leading to hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries.

Needless to say, it’s a pretty serious matter. Unfortunately, someone at fashion company Kenneth Cole didn’t get the memo, and thought they could get away with cracking a joke about the Egyptian uprising on Twitter.

In a recent update from the Kenneth Cole Twitter account, a Kenneth Cole rep wrote “Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at (link).”

Reaction to the tweet came strong and fast, with most people criticizing the company for its apparent insensitivity to an historic occasion. Someone even went so far as to create a fake Twitter account called @KennethColePR that is sending out mocking status updates intended to humiliate the company further. (A similar tactic was used against oil giant BP, during the Gulf Oil Spill of last year.)

To the company’s credit, Kenneth Cole apologized for the tweet with another update saying, “Re Egypt tweet: we weren’t intending to make light of a serious situation. We understand the sensitivity of this historic moment -KC.” Unfortunately, when you make a mistake of this size online, apologizing after the fact is like throwing a stone in the ocean; it barely makes a wave.

Eventually, the Twitter furor will wear out and Kenneth Cole can go back to just being a fashion company, but in the short term, the company has learned a valuable lesson in social media management and the importance of maintaining a strong online reputation. It’s a lesson that other big brands should heed too.