The arches in McDonald's iconic Golden Arches brand symbol are yellow.
The bright yellow color contributes to the symbol's high visibility and helps the arches stand out on roadside signs, restaurant buildings, packaging, and advertising. The familiar color is so closely associated with McDonald's that people commonly call the symbol the Golden Arches even though the arches are generally rendered in yellow rather than metallic gold.
The arches began as architectural features on McDonald's restaurants and were later simplified into the letter M used as a corporate logo. Color made the form even easier to identify, especially from a distance and in busy commercial environments. The symbol could communicate the brand without requiring a customer to read the company name.
McDonald's has used different surrounding colors and graphic treatments over time, including red backgrounds and later minimalist applications. Those changes do not alter the defining color of the arches themselves. The distinction between yellow and gold is a frequent wording issue: “Golden Arches” is the established name, while yellow is the standard visual color.