Red is the color traditionally paired with yellow in McDonald’s Golden Arches branding.
The combination of yellow arches and red backgrounds or accents became one of the company’s most recognizable visual codes. The high-contrast palette is easy to notice from roads and remains legible across signs, packaging, uniforms, advertisements, and restaurant interiors.
The yellow references the Golden Arches themselves, while red became a strong supporting color in the company’s identity and promotional materials. Together, the colors helped McDonald’s create consistency across a rapidly expanding restaurant network.
McDonald’s has also used other colors in particular design eras and markets, especially in modern restaurant interiors and packaging. Those variations do not replace the traditional red-and-yellow pairing associated with the classic brand. The question concerns the established historical color combination, not every color used by the company.