Yellow was used for the Golden Arches in McDonald's original 1962 logo.
The color reflected the bright yellow arches already associated with McDonald's restaurant architecture. It also made the symbol highly visible on roadside signs and helped the logo remain recognizable when viewed from a distance. The term “Golden Arches” refers directly to this distinctive yellow-gold appearance.
McDonald's later combined the arches with red backgrounds, red wordmarks, and other color treatments depending on the sign, packaging, or market. Those variations can make people remember red as part of the original logo, but the defining arches themselves were yellow. The logo's color and simple “M” shape worked together as a compact visual identity that could be recognized without reading the company name.