In grade school, we were always told to think before we speak – these days, it’s become vital to our social media existence to think before we type.

Kenneth Cole isn’t the bad boy of the fashion industry, but since yesterday’s tweet he’s become a poster child for bad media. The shoe designer attempted to get on the bandwagon of Twitter’s “#Cairo” by tying some flashy pants and leather shoes from his new line to the latest political uproar in Egypt. While it has received some attention, we’re guessing it probably wasn’t in the same context they’d hoped.

The controversial move is actually pretty common in the Kenneth Cole look book. The designer has been known to slice in humor during times of crisis: after Katrina, the team unveiled the billboard slogan “Hurricanes aren’t ending. And bird flu is now coming. BUT WEAR?”

Does Kenneth Cole really need any kind of introduction? The innovative company has been incorporating media into the business since its inception, building the brand up one controversy at a time. By the time the company went public in 1994, a little over a decade after the company’s debut and after the film “The Birth of a Shoe Company” chronicled the life of his start-up shoe company, they had millions buying in to his suede jackets and fitted pants.

It’s not the first time Kenneth Cole has made a mockery of his business, but this Twitter gaffe has provided an outlet for vocal fans to really stick it to him; some of the most common words now floating around Kenneth Cole’s Facebook page include “retard,” “pathetic” and “insensitive.” Looks like the jokes on you, Mr. Cole.