Which movement is strongly associated with public Hanukkah menorah lightings?

Chabad-Lubavitch is the movement strongly associated with public Hanukkah menorah lightings. Its public menorah campaign grew from initiatives encouraged by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, during the 1970s.

The practice combines the Hanukkah principle of publicizing the miracle with modern Jewish outreach. Chabad emissaries organize large outdoor ceremonies, often inviting mayors, governors, presidents, and other public officials to light the candles. These events take place in city squares, near government buildings, and at other prominent sites.

The movement did not invent the religious idea of making Hanukkah lights visible: Jewish law has long emphasized placing the lights where they can be seen. Chabad popularized the especially recognizable large-scale public ceremony. Other Jewish organizations and communities also hold public lightings, so the answer describes the movement most characteristically associated with the practice, not an exclusive ownership of it.

A common mix-up is confusing the nine-branched Hanukkah menorah, properly called a hanukkiah, with the seven-branched Temple menorah. Public Hanukkah displays use the former, including a separate shamash used to light the other candles.