McDonald's introduced the logo combining the Golden Arches with its wordmark in 1968.
The 1968 version placed the stylized arches inside a solid red shape and paired them with the McDonald's name. It gave the company a more standardized identity for restaurant signs, packaging, advertising, and other branded materials.
This date is commonly confused with 1962, when the Golden Arches first became a nationally recognizable McDonald's symbol. The two milestones are related but different: 1962 marks the introduction of the arches logo, while 1968 marks the later wordmark-and-arches design.
McDonald's subsequently simplified and adjusted its visual identity, including versions that used the arches without the surrounding red shape or full wordmark. Nevertheless, the 1968 design was an important step toward the familiar global branding system used by the company.