Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been accused of swearing on purpose on national television to increase his appeal to voters.

Last night on Channel 7 Mr Rudd dropped the word "shit" as he spoke to sacked Pacific Brands workers about the Government's decision to spend billions stimulating the economy.

"People have to understand that, because there's going to be the usual political shit storm, sorry, political storm, over that," he said.

His comments were applauded by the audience.

But this morning Melbourne's Liberal Mayor Robert Doyle and Opposition frontbencher Peter Dutton both accused Mr Rudd of scripting the moment.

Mr Doyle told Sky News Mr Rudd did so to "sound human".

"He usually gives a pretty robotic performance so I'm sure that that was a clever little snare in there to make him sound like one of the lads," he said.

Mr Dutton said Mr Rudd's slip up showed he was a "phony".

"We've said all along, and I think people are starting to see it now, that Kevin Rudd is certainly manufactured," he said.

"He wants to talk and appeal to workers in the audience and it was a scripted moment."

But Labor frontbencher Mark Arbib said the moment was definitely a mistake.

"It looked like a slip up to me," he said. "The Prime Minister is very emotional about the issue of job losses. He feels it."