Failure of Pixel 2 exposed a larger problem: Google's ads don't work

Across 2017, Google heavily promoted its Pixel phone brand. Despite being lauded as being “the world’s most valuable brand” and its status as the world’s largest purveyor of advertising, all of Google’s global efforts, including DoubleClick and YouTube, resulted in inconsequential Pixel sales. Worse than its failure to sell hardware is the fact that Google has proven that its advertising simply isn’t very effective.
Source: macinsider