A Giant of Anti-Counterfeiting: John Anderson, 1950-2025

John Anderson, Chairman of the Global Anti- Counterfeiting Group until last year, died in early January after a difficult illness.

John made his mark in the branded products side of anticounterfeiting after a career in the UK’s diplomatic service, where he honed negotiating skills that he successfully deployed later on in the anticounterfeiting world.

From there he joined the UK’s Automobile Association as Manager of Government Affairs and Consumer Policy, then moved to the AntiCounterfeiting Group (UK) as its second director.

He brought a new discipline and rigour to this organisation, benefiting the whole anticounterfeit field through his work to better understand public attitudes to counterfeit products and their economic impact. The public attitudes study he commissioned revealed that many members of the British public had no concerns about buying counterfeit goods, even those to be ingested – the first time such attitudes were shown to be prevalent.

He then went on to commission the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) to study the economic impact of counterfeits on four UK industries: clothing and footwear, toys and sports equipment, perfumes and toiletries, and pharmaceuticals.