On May 21 2007 Banksy received the award for Art's Greatest living Briton. The artist did not turn up to collect his award and continued with his anonymous status. At this occasion he shares his Rat “it’s not a race” originally painted in 2004 in London and his comments are based on his writings in Wall and Piece “You can win the rat race but you're still a rat. The human race is an unfair and stupid competition.”
In 2006, the journalist Max Foster of CNN coined the term “Banksy effect” to illustrate how interest in other street artists was growing on the back of Banksy's success.
Blek le rat, a French graffiti artist who started to paint rats in 1981 is considered as an influencer of Banksy. He said the rat is “the only free animal in the city”.  
In 2006 Christina Aguilera bought a Banksy and contributed to the increase of interest and value of the artist.

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Sources: Banksyunofficial.com
Banksy Wall and Piece, 2007
CNN, Max Foster, London, Dec 2006
Blek le Rat, By Jon Reiss, Swindle Magazine.com, 2008