A man who started flipping over books and magazines featuring Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she's putting too much effort into her image, and not enough on the big issues affecting the country.

The man behind the 'Turn Ardern' campaign was revealed by NZME on Saturday to be 66-year-old Canterbury bricklayer Colin Wilson.

He told RNZ that what started as him posting a couple of pictures on Twitter had turned into a campaign with thousands of supporters.

"We've got a Prime Minister that hasn't got time to look into child poverty, hasn't got time to look into the housing crisis, and yet she's got time to go and do all these fluff articles that seem to be pulled out whenever she's in trouble," he said.

Numerous photographs and videos have been posted on social media showing people flipping over piles of magazines or copies of Ardern's new biography, and obscuring them behind other displays.