Healthy living advice is failing to reduce the number of overweight children in England, new figures show.

Almost a quarter of primary school pupils aged 4 or 5 are either overweight or obese, according to the latest data from the NHS Information Centre. Among those aged 10 or 11, the proportion is a third, demonstrating that little progress has been made towards the Government's target of cutting the numbers of overweight children by 2020.

The figures come from the National Child Measurement Programme, which last year measured the weight and height of almost a million children in the first and last years of primary school.

Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, has called for a “national movement” to combat obesity, backed by a £375 million campaign called Change4Life. But campaigners say that more radical tactics are needed to persuade parents and children to exercise and eat healthily.

Change4Life is likely to feature “shockvalue” advertising of oozing fat or clogged-up arteries aimed at parents who do not realise how overweight they and their children are. The advertising company M&C Saatchi has been testing messages similar to those used with cigarettes, which feature graphic images of rotting lungs and corpses, for the launch of the campaign in the new year.

Campaigners have also called for a ban on “junk food” advertising before the 9pm watershed.

Tam Fry, a spokesman for the National Obesity Forum, said that attempts to promote physical activity and the nutrition of school dinners were failing.

“We had high hopes that there would have been a marked improvement after all the money that is being thrown at the problem but it seems that more radical measures will be needed to reduce obesity levels,” he said. “The Government's much-vaunted healthy schools policy and other measures are obviously not working.”

It was “horrifying” that obesity levels in Year 6 were so much higher than in reception class, he added.

Tim Straughan, the Information Centre's chief executive, said: “Obesity is one of the biggest threats to the health of our nation and it is of huge concern that the problem is afflicting so many children and at such an early age. Over time, we expect the [measurement] programme to pinpoint trends in the prevalence of obesity which will help frontline staff to identify where best to direct their efforts in tackling the problem.”

Josh Bayly, of the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said that graphic images, such as his charity's own “fatty cigarette” poster campaign from 2004, could work. “But the shock value has to be accompanied by a positive message about what people can do about it, such as directions to a local leisure centre or gym,” he said.

“We know that childhood obesity is on the rise, but if parents are perceiving their overweight children to be normal then the Government faces a real challenge.”

Mr Fry said that posters or leaflets would not persuade the poorest, hard-to-reach groups most likely to have a weight problem. “We need health professionals approaching people face to face on the high street or in supermarkets to really get these messages across,” he said.

Dawn Primarolo, the Minister for Public Health, said that further data gathered over the next year would help to determine whether rates of overweight and obese children had stabilised.

“If we do nothing, 90 per cent of today's children could be overweight or obese by 2050, leaving them at risk from serious illnesses such as heart disease or diabetes,” she said. “The Change4Life revolution starts in January.”

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